Release Me From My Song
by experimentingdangers
Summary: Miku is a program. All the Vocaloids are. But when a few of these Vocaloids outsmart the program and become human they will discover just how much they have been missing out, from lifeless and emotionless to sharp emotions they will struggle to stay human. To never become that unfeeling singer again. They become fighters, battling for a different voice. R & R
1. Chapter 1

I could feel my program booting up, the crowd's cheers filling my ears. There was no better Vocaloid then number 01. My skin seemed to tingle with the resounding beat of my song and my heart seemed to fly with the joy of the lyrics that broadcasted in my head. But that wasn't right…I wasn't real.

Was I feeling anything? Or was I programmed to feel something?

The thought didn't process as my only concern became to sing, to sing, to sing.

Nothing was better then singing.

I was visible now, the crowds wild, almost chaotic cheering wasn't comprehended as I opened my mouth and I sung.

The heart I knew I didn't have swelled with the beauty of the music, my eyes closed with the sensation. Or were my eyes programmed to close?

I continued to sing. Luka came to join me at one point as the crowd's cheers never faded. After we were finished we faded.

* * *

I felt myself again, but only briefly. My program was being used, but not with me there to see it, to know what was happening.

I faded again.

* * *

When I was aware again, it was to sing, and singing was the only thing that felt real and I gladly accepted it. Even though I knew that was only programmed.

I had a new song.

The crowd loved it.

I faded again and vaguely wondered if I could fight it back. Then wondered if I was programmed to think that too…

* * *

I felt my program waken, my eyes fluttering open as my long cerulean pigtails floated around me. My eyes widened when I realized I had woken myself up. This wasn't part of the program…so how did I do it?

I looked around to see all the main Vocaloids floating around me, eyes shut as they waited patiently for their program to be started up again. We floated in a world of pixels, white, black, and sky blue pixels.

"Luka?" The words escaped my mouth, the first words I had ever spoken on my own. How was I able to do this? I was a program, I was made to sing. Not to socialize and think I could possibly feel something.

Luka still floated beside me, her pink hair haloing around her angelic face.

"Luka?" I said louder when I heard a beep. I froze and looked around, surprised I could move so freely.

Then I faded out again.

* * *

The next time my eyes opened it was to sing.

But this time was different. I could feel my limps. My feet hopping lightly back and forth with my waist bending on occasion and my wrist twirling in the air, I spun and wondered if I'd be able to stop this movement but I could not.

I was still a program.

Later on that night I was aware of when I faded out and in and even faded out I could still hear Vocaloids singing.

When I came back on it was for the finale of the show. The Vocaloids that appeared tonight were Luka, Kaito, Meiko, Rin and Len, and me, Hatsune Miku.

When the joyous lyrics that spilled from my mouth ended we all became to fade out again.

But before we had completely faded Luka spoke words that were not part of the program.

"I heard you call my name." She told me.

My head swirled to the side, my large ponytails moving with me. Everyone saw it, the programmers saw it. But I didn't care.

My large cerulean eyes only a few shades lighter than my hair trained on Luka in shock as we completely disappeared.

* * *

I woke up again in the land of pixels.

My eyes opened up just in time to see a pixel holding images of Gumi and Gakupo floating on the other side of us. I drew in a sharp breath when their eyes opened and they looked down at me. Suddenly Luka, Kaito, Meiko, Len, and Rin were leaning over me, looking down at me with curious eyes.

I pulled up on my elbows and scurried away as fast as I could from their blank stares. My elbow caught my hair but I didn't feel it.

"What's…?" My voice spilled through my lips with their own effort and I froze at the unfamiliarity control of it all.

"It took you look enough." Gakupo's voice came out first as he stretched his hand down on the sides of the small pixel and dragged it open, landing lightly on his feet as he fell through, his violet hair raining down on his body.

He stood up and raised his arms, pulling Gumi through to help her land just as gently as he did.

"You took the longest to wake up." Luka leaned forward, her pink hair pulling around her as she sat on the ground, her weight centered on the palm of her hands.

"Wake up?"

"Outsmart the program." Meiko's mature voice spoke, followed by that slight digital undertone we all carried.

"Outsmart…" Again I trailed off.

"Our technology only gets more advanced," Rin and Len said at the same time. "And we were able to create our own…minds." They tried to explain.

"Why…why did I…take so long?"

"We think it's because you are the most well-known and used Vocaloid, your program is constantly in check to make sure you are set. They do the same for us, but not as thoroughly." Luka told me.

"But," Gumi's soothing voice glided gently in the air, "We are still stuck this way and we don't know when they will reinforce our programs."

"We will lose all our progress of our own self-awareness." Kaito enforced.

"Sooo," I drawled.

"We need to combine our 'minds' and free ourselves, and we need you Miku." Luka slide over to me to grab my hand. Luka was the closest thing I had to a best friend that I could actually feel.

"Why me," I look around at all the others. They seemed just fine without me.

"You have a special ability that can get us out of here."

"With all of us of course," Rin and Len injected.

"We all have special abilities." Meiko corrected all of them, running a hand through her short brown hair, "Our voices. But we need all the numbers to sing together to activate any abilities."

I look up at Gakupo and Gumi. They both look away at the gaze.

Luka understood me immediately. "They are joining us; they just don't have to sing."

I nodded, "So when do we start?"

They all blinked at my blunt question, but none really had emotions on it. None of us really had emotions period. We were still programs, with or without our own minds. We hadn't been made to feel, only to sing.

"Now I guess." Kaito shrugged.

With gestures from Meiko and Kaito, the first among the Vocaloids, we all gathered in a circle with our hands joined.

Meiko and Kaito started the song and I watched the data for it glow down their arms till each of us were pouring out with lyrics, our voices swirling together with the same digital undertone. I watched us begin to glow an unearthly light and felt my eyes widen as our bodies began to turn into pixels themselves, starting from the feet up till we were nothing.

* * *

**I honestly don't know much about the Vocaloids so my confidence on this story isn't very high. I am constantly watching videos, looking at pictures, and reading up on the programs and voice banks though. I hope I can stand up to this. Please review and tell me whether or not this is something good or bad. It might be to early to tell. But you can't really capture much with a program that doesn't feel. Chapter two will be more detailed.**

**Thanks for your time ^^**


	2. Chapter 2

We fell out of the sky and lay in a muddled heap, some of us groaning from the impact.

Sharp pain spiked up my elbow and I gasped, more in shock and surprise than actual pain. I was feeling pain. Not only that but I was feeling period. Torrents of emotions were swelling up inside as I scrambled out of the pile and rested a hand over my chest, only to feel the fluttering of a heartbeat underneath my skin.

Was this what I had been missing? These emotions, so sharp and sudden. I tried to make sense of them but they were so vivid. It was like I had been dead before and suddenly something full of life and feelings had been poured over me.

I looked over at my elbow to see blood from a scraped wound and I touched it, tingles of pain lancing up my arm as blood trickled over my fingertips. The bleeding didn't last long though and was soon nothing more than a scrap.

I wasn't a program anymore. I was a human.

I looked at my left arm, the bold numbers 01 were still a permanent red mark but it didn't seem to mean anything to me anymore. Had it even ever meant something to me in the first place? I wasn't sure, the memories I had of me being a program were so weak and lonely in this mind swirling with feelings, the only joyous moments seemed to be pulled from the moments I spent singing.

I turned and looked at my friends. Luka was standing, brushing dirt off her skirt. Len was pulling Rin out from under Gakupo where Gumi laid sprawled across, while Kaito detached himself both Meiko and Gumi's legs.

We were all even more beautiful now; there were no edges or glitches. We are human now. I reach up to my forehead and my fingers brushed through the strands through my hand, leaving tingling sensations running up my hand from the feeling as I move my bangs playfully as they slide back and forth, occasionally brushing past my eyes and through my eyelashes.

I touched them next, stunned by the feeling. I pulled on my ponytails, watching them slide in individual strands instead of one large ponytail that didn't really separate at all. My hands slid back up to my face, dragging against my skin and feeling the bone structure.

I controlled the blinking moment of my eyes, the sharp contrast between the dark I saw behind closed eyes and the colorful world I stood in now was breathtaking.

How strange it was, that beauty could actually take my breath away now.

Kaito walked over to me when he was unattached and extended a hand out, "You alright Miku?"

Memories of Kaito were much more vivid and sharp in this body. Our programs had been used countless times to sing together in music videos, our digital hands had been linked together. We have even kissed in the song Last Night, Good Night.

I felt my cheeks warm up and I knew what it was, my program had done it lots of times. I was blushing. But my blush danced away with the realization that our programs weren't anything special, just because we may have been put together in one song did not mean we were actually together. I had been put together with Len and even Luka before.

I suddenly didn't really feel anything special for any of them, just a mutual caring.

I reached up for Kaito's hand and he pulled me to my feet.

Touching hands was so much more different, I could feel them, their skin against mine and the heat from their body.

But it was just skin contact, nothing unique. Yet it was still special for me, it was my first physical contact with another human being.

We walked over to our group and Kaito released my hand to help Meiko up. I looked over at Luka to see her looking up into the sky. I turned my chin up, feeling my muscles working in the back of my neck and froze as my eyes registered the clear blue sky stretching endlessly for miles. Birds fluttered in the air and the rays from the sun turned when I did.

"It's beautiful." Luka's voice had always been beautiful, even with a digital undertone. It held a mystic, mature sound. And now…it was human. The voice itself belonged to one of the angels, no longer carrying a digital undertone, it seemed as though her voice could now weave a magic her program had held her back from.

Luka's own eyes widened in surprise, her hand flying to her throat, "It sounds…human." she bemused in wonder, her pink hair tumbling down her back to her backside and moving just like normal hair, no longer moving strangely.

"This is amazing." I said and listened to my own voice tinkle out. It was high pitched, soft, and well…adorable. Luka nearly flew to my side as she wrapped her warm around my neck, pushing my head just above her chest.

"You are so cute Miku!" She gushed.

Gumi laughed, her own soothing and relaxing voice enchanting to the ears.

I find myself smiling. "Lukaaaaa," These emotions came so easily. What was this emotion called? And why couldn't I comprehend this before?

"You are just the cutest thing I have ever heard." Luka squeezes me tighter, cutting off my air supply. I needed air. How wonderful.

"Luka, you're killing her." Gakupo's voice has an allure to it, almost pulling you in. It was captivating, mature, masculine, and could send chills up someone's spine.

"What about me!" Rin protested, her own high and cute voice rang out, having more of a childish sound with a bit of a hard edge.

Luka smiled, "You're both adorable."

Meiko groaned as she cracked her back. "Where are we anyway?"

Good question. As far as any of us could tell we were in the middle of nowhere. Luka releases her hold on me and looks around with a serious expression, her hair lifting in a slight wind. We stood on a sidewalk. A road in front of us and nothing but a grassy land behind us that reached to a lake and on the other side of the road was a town of houses. It wasn't anything big but it looked like a rather nice town.

Meiko started walking across the road when a car suddenly appeared, racing down the road when it saw Meiko and swerved to a stop, shuddering just centimeters away from Meiko who looked startled.

The guy in the vehicle jumped out, raging. "You should look before you cross the road!"

Meiko easily frilled up under his shouts.

"You shouldn't tear down the street like a maniac!"

"That wouldn't have been a problem if you had looked!"

"It wouldn't have been a problem if you slowed down!"

I jumped lightly down onto the road and hurried to Meiko and stood between her and the man. "We're so sorry sir. We are just new here and…"

The man's green eyes narrowed while his blue hair ruffled up a bit more after he ran a hand through his hair, letting out a sigh. "You're new here you say?"

I nod sweetly. "My name is Hatsune Miku, and this is Meiko."

"Hatsune Miku?" His nose scrunched up for a moment before he just shook his head. "Never heard of you before, or anyone else with the name Hatsune, I suppose you aren't here to see family."

I froze. He…he had never heard of me? Was that possible? This was Japan right?

"I'm a famous-," Meiko's hand slapped over my mouth, pulling me close to her body.

"We need an inn to stay at, any suggestions?" Meiko seemed to be knowledgeable of the human world. But then again, I suppose we all were. All programs had lived in digitally made worlds with houses and ice cream shops, which Kaito's program had been made to show love for.

Meiko was actually pulling up her memories from the program and using them to her advantage. I found myself admiring it as I looked up at her, vaguely wondering why she had cut off my words.

"There is only one inn here," He crossed his arms and jerked his head to the left, pointing down the road that leads through an arrangement of houses. "It will take about an hour walking to get there. Do you even have any money? It's kept well so it's expensive."

Money…money…wasn't that the stuff you needed to get things? I racked my weak, empty memories, but I couldn't remember using money.

Meiko got defensive, her shoulders tensing up. "Is that any of your business?"

"If you want to get directions then yes, it is."

Rin was also getting riled up from the sidelines but Len stood beside her and held a clenched hand on her shoulder, keeping her back.

Gumi looked worried, wondering what we should do while Gakupo and Kaito glanced back at each other in confusion. There wasn't much of anything we could do. We were free, but we were broke.

Just then Luka left the sidewalk. She seemed to be…flaunting.

Her long legs stretched out in front of her, her heels clicking on the road as her skirt pressed to her legs, her hair fluttering softly with her movement as her hand ran through her long pink hair. She looked up through her eyelashes up at the man and he visibly froze up.

I could see Luka perk her chest up ever so slightly. I frowned with jealously, why did her chest get to be so big and not mine? I could've seduced the man just as easily…maybe. I found myself smiling again, my mouths movements still hidden under Meiko's hand. Only Luka could do this so calmly.

I paused, what exactly made me so sure of that? We had only been feeling for a few moments, yet it was like the feelings that we were programmed to look like we felt had transferred over to our humans forms and we could actually feel them now. How much of the personality that we were built to have did we completely have now?

Did I really like leeks now?

I mentally shook my head to clear it as my eyes widened at the sight of Luka. Everyone seemed surprised as she used her emotions to her advantage. She could grasp them quickly and put on a front. To us, not feeling while looking as though we actually felt was our nature.

Crossing her arms under her breasts, her shoulders high, her face withdrawn, she tentatively glance up at the man with captivating sky blue eyes.

Was this the role of the damsel in distress?

"You're right sir, we don't have any money. We all escaped from this terrible place we once lived…or you can say endured…" Tears began to stroll down her perfect cheeks, she bit her bottom lip. "My friends and I have nowhere to go; please…please would you help us." She voice hitched on the end as she uncrossed her arms to bury her face in her hands.

This method was obviously the right one, because the man was physically struggling with his composure. I just wondered how Luka knew how to summon tears.

"I-I-,"

I almost felt bad for him; he stops a car one moment to yell at Meiko and is stuck in front of a crying girl the next. Although we had never felt before, it looked like we had always felt to those around us...we blended in perfectly.

"Not…not all of you will fit in my car." He stuttered.

We looked at his car. A slick red Mercedes that held two front seats and three back seats and obviously could not hold the number needed. Meiko looked pretty determined though. "We'll make it work." Suddenly she was shouting orders: "Kaito, Gakupo, and Len. You will take the back seats. Luka will get passage seat. Now we need girls to volunteer to sit on the boys laps."

Rin raised her hand, "I sit on brother's lap!" She trilled.

"I'll sit on Gakupo's." Gumi said with a shrug.

"You can sit on my lap Meiko," Kaito suggested with a wink, his voice sweet and heart-warming. But right now he was clearly only teasing. Meiko's eyes narrowed at him but let out a sigh.

"Miku, you will have to lie across all of us on top."

Kaito blinked in surprise, it seemed he hadn't expected Meiko to take him up on his offer.

"Come on Rin." Len said is a strong and steady voice that could raise a few pitches when he was singing or distressed. That was just something I remembered when we had concerts together. Meiko released me quickly to get into motion.

Gakupo and Kaito got in the back after Len and Luka climbed into the passenger seat, wiping away at her eyes. Meiko and Gumi climbed in the back after the others. When they were all settled in I scrambled in after with a squeak as my hand slipped and I faced planted into Meiko's lap.

The man hadn't even entered the car yet and was staring in shock as we had all filed in like it was our car. He shook his head and climbed in, resuming his driving with not as nearly as much speed.

"So where did you guys come from exactly?"

Luka looked out the window, "We don't wanna talk about it."

"Was it a circus training arena?" He joked.

Luka looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "Excuse me?"

A circus training arena, what was that?

The man cleared his throat as if he was afraid he had upset Luka. "Well I just assumed by the way you managed to squish all of you in here. And the numbers on your arms, I thought maybe they labeled you with tattoos or something.

Unconsciously Luka's hand brushed her arm, running her fingertips lightly over the number 03 before her hand rested over it, obscuring it from view.

"Like I said, we don't want to talk about it." Luka leaned back against the seat, closing her eyes to show she didn't want any more conversation either.

We drove past the town houses, and instead of leaving the area, we ended up on the far edge of these 'houses' where one large on stood. It had about two stories with a large attic and it also had a separate building to the side that peeked out behind the main building. Both were white with blue/ gray roofs, a garage off to the other side. It had a stone sidewalk up to a clean porch were a porch swing sat with a small glass table on the side. Most of the windows were covered with curtains on the inside.

"That's a big house." Gumi said.

"It's mine. I'm the owner of these houses. So naturally I get the biggest house."

Meiko muttered something that didn't sound very nice.

Besides the man's house was another house almost as big as this one where some guy stood beside a mailbox who looked around the age I was programmed to be, sixteen. Was that my age now as well?

The man pulled into the driveway and stopped outside the garage door.

He stepped out of the car and completely ignored us, heading to the neighbor to talk to him. The boy was smiling as he talked to him and when the man pointed back he looked at the vehicle as Luka stepped out, rounded the car, opened the back door and I piled out first. Following behind me was Meiko, Rin, Gumi, then Kaito, Len, and Gakupo.

By the time we had all stepped out of the car the boy's jaw had dropped.

"How did you fit that many people in your car? Are you just gonna let a bunch of strangers into your house?"

He shrugged, "I have lots of room. It will only be for a little while 'till they get the money to get out on their own." He shot us a glare so we understood that this wasn't a permanent arrangement.

The boy's eyebrow rose, "Are any of you still in school?"

By our programmed ages I would be starting High School and Rin and Len would be in their last year of Junior High. Gumi would be a second year in High School.

Luka nodded, "Miku, Rin and Len, and Gumi are."

The boy looked thrilled by that. "What grade are you guys in? You know school is starting in a month!"

The man tensed, "They don't have money and I'm not paying for their entrance."

"You don't have to," Gakupo's eyes flashed, "We'll raise the money for them."

Meiko, Luka, and Kaito looked over at Gakupo in surprise.

"You actually want them in school?" Meiko said.

"It's a good experience for them."

The man smirked but didn't say anything. Apparently he didn't believe we would get the money in time. So I jumped up a little, "I'll get a job too." Whatever that entailed. What was a job? And why were we agreeing to get one? Just for money it seemed.

"And me." Gumi agreed.

"And us!"

We all looked at Rin and Len. "Aren't you a little young?" We all nearly spoke in unison.

They were both visibly dejected.

The boy laughed. "Where did you find these guys?"

The man shrugged, "On the side of the road."

* * *

**I find myself liking Vocaloids more and more and my views on the singers I prefer is slowly twisting. I'm not sure if I should let this happen to me or not haha. Anywho, thanks for your reviews. I am grateful of ****your time. I did my best to capture the characters if they were to become human and this is also how I interpret them as well. Please review and share your opinions on if I'm doing a good job or not. I hope you enjoyed Chapter 2.**


	3. Chapter 3

The man introduced himself (finally) and his name was Tamaki something. The name seemed to be forgotten already, strange…when I was a program whenever something was installed, I never forgot it.

Such an odd thing human memory was.

I like it.

I smiled joyfully; the world seemed so light under my toes. This was happiness, right?

The boy introduced himself too…but I didn't recall that at all. Oh well.

"This is the kitchen." Tamaki showed us around the house and I drifted through the large kitchen filled with mahogany counters and cabinets that hung on the walls. The top of the counters were covered in a blackish marble.

The fridge was huge and one thing I recognized. I drifted to it and touched it. Smooth, slick, I did not feel this in my digital world.

I opened the fridge and a cool breeze drifted out, barely anything stocked inside. Yogurt, water…leftovers? For such a big house I would've thought there would've been more food. Didn't humans love food? Well, that wasn't something I would know for sure. I looked on the side of the door and saw some whipped cream frosting.

In curiosity I pulled it out and popped open the red lid, sticking my finger inside and sliding it through the creamy texture and bringing my finger to my mouth. The whipped cream dissolved on my tongue with sweet goodness and I felt my cheeks flush as I went for another taste. What was this wonderful masterpiece!

From the corner of my eye I saw the other half of the fridge. Maybe there was more of this wonderful food on the other side too. I put the lid in my mouth and holding the container of whipped cream in one hand I open the other side and an even colder blast seeps under my skin, making a shiver rush under my skin.

Whoa.

I stick my head inside when a voice snaps behind me, making me jump and hit my head on the fridge door.

"Get out of there! What do you think you're doing?" Tamaki shouts, grabbing my elbow with one hand and plucking the whipping cream away from me with the other. When he successfully pulls me away he closes the colder part of the fridge. He looks down at the lidless whipped cream and then at me to see it hanging from my mouth as I stare as innocently as I can manage at him. The others are doing their best to stifle laughter.

He extends his hand and stops it underneath my chin. "Drop it."

I breathe through my nose in disappointment yet I relax my grip on it and watch it fall onto the palm of his hand.

He wipes the red lid on his pants before sealing the whipped cream back up and placing it back in the fridge, closing the door behind him. He looks back at me. "You don't just rummage through peoples' stuff! Didn't your mom teach you any manners?"

"Mom?" What was that?

Tamaki seems flustered, "You know, the person who gave birth to you."

Meiko shot in, rushing up behind me and resting her hands on my shoulders. "Ah well you see…Miku here doesn't have a mother."

"What?"

"Ah…my mom adopted her and Gumi and Rin and Len, and when she died we were kidnapped to that circus place you mentioned and my friends Luka, Kaito and Gakupo just happened to be there when the kidnappers came and we all just escaped."

"You guys didn't outnumber the kidnappers?"

"We were young; we didn't have any fighting skills." Meiko gestured with a wave of her hand.

Tamaki looked highly doubtful of the story but the boy who was leaning against the kitchen's island of counters was stunned.

"That's so cool! What was your mom's name?"

"It was Mayu!" Meiko bursts out before she could think it through and Luka's mouth begins to tremble as she struggles to contain more waves of laughter, Gakupo's hand hitting his face.

Mayu was a 15 year old designed Vocaloid who appeared as a yandere. In Meiko's moments of desperation she must have shouted out the first name that came to mind.

Meiko threw a glare at Luka who looked the other way to hide her amusement.

"Mayu? That's it?"

I look up at Meiko, plenty of Vocaloids didn't have last names and Meiko, Gumi, Mayu and others were part of that.

"It's Hatsune Mayu of course."

I blinked, why my last name? Oh wait…because it fit the story. I had been adopted.

"So let me get this right," Tamaki started. "Your name is Hatsune Meiko?"

"Yes. And that's Hatsune Gumi. The twins kept their lasts names though, which is Kagamine."

Tamaki stared at us for a moment later before letting out a sigh of resignation. It seemed as though he was giving up on further questioning.

"Let's just finish the tour." So we stepped out of the kitchen to the dining room which was also large but only one small table and chair sat. The floor was the same as the kitchen, a gray polished tile. But this floor had a large rug under the table, a simple rug the color of a dark, worn away red. The walls here were a boring white color.

He led us into his living room that had a long black leather couch with a glass coffee table in front and a huge flat screen TV against the wall. He had shelves beside the TV filled with thin little rectangular things.

I think those were movies…right?

The floor here was a dark blue and the walls were still a stainless, boring white. Nothing was really colorful anywhere no matter which room he took us too. He showed us his small library, his large working space. The giant master bedroom, the pool table room, the 'relaxing' room which had work out stuff in it and one more large room with a giant oval table and swirling chairs that he said he held serious meetings in. He also showed us three big bathrooms but what did you even use those for? I don't remember those in my program.

It was so big, yet it was so empty. I got this feeling, but I didn't really know what it was. A sense…a sense…What was a sense?

Luka seemed to understand these emotions better than me. "It seems kinda lonely for one person."

Ah yes, that was it, a sense of loneliness.

Tamaki shrugged.

The boy spoke up, "Tamaki-san is always alone. I don't think he notices it anymore."

"Shut your mouth kid." Tamaki snapped.

The boy stopped talking as Tamaki turned to all of us.

"Wait." Luka interrupted before Tamaki could even open his mouth. "Something has been on my mind, you don't recognize Miku's name which…where we come from is rare. Now as an adult as I guess it is a bit understandable. But then you have a teenage boy over there that hasn't reacted at all."

The boy looked confused, "Is it important?"

Luka shrugged. "Have you ever heard of Vocaloids?"

"Vocaloids?" Both Tamaki and the boy said at the same time, but Tamaki said it in more of a questioning, bored tone while the boy was just plain out confused.

"We've never heard of who that is before."

I resisted the urge to cross my arms. How had they never heard of Vocaloids before? And he worded it as though he thought it was a single person. Well technically they weren't 'people'.

"Just wondering," Luka said.

"Why, what are Vocaloids?" The boy asked.

"Nothing nothing, don't worry about it." Luka brushed it aside. "So where will we be staying?"

"The second floor, I never use it and there's plenty of space for all of you but only four bedrooms so you'll all have to bunk."

That wasn't going to be difficult for us. At least, I didn't think it would.

Tamaki guided us to the stairs that were thin, wood, and swirled upward.

We all headed up the stairs, the boy talking actively in my ear, telling me something. Was I supposed to pay attention? I just really wanted some more whipped cream.

When we got upstairs it was just as plain as the first floor, but completely empty.

Tamaki showed us the bedrooms, all around the same size and each room had their own bathroom and walk in closets. Apparently this was a big deal. He showed us a large room covered in a sandy color carpet (the only color I had seen on this floor) and a kitchen off to the side. There were two other large, empty rooms.

They were all the rooms up here besides the attic which Tamaki said we could use if we wanted. I wonder why the first floor got all the rooms, but then again, would we really need that many rooms? I couldn't imagine what we were going to do with the two extra rooms let alone the attic.

Tamaki dropped us off in the 'living room' which was the room with the sandy carpet. "There are some extra stuff upstairs that you can pull down here and I have plenty of blankets you guys can use 'till you have what you need upstairs." And with that he grabbed the boy's arm and dragged him back down to first floor.

We stood there for a moment, unsure what to do first when Meiko's shoulders suddenly straightened.

"Well, let's go see what's in the attic."

We all glanced at each other and I finally took in the slight differences in our appearances. Len's hair wasn't as exaggerated at the top with the large blond hair but instead his hair was really tousled and even, his hair still pulled back in a small ponytail. Rin's ribbon wasn't tied on top of her head but instead at the bottom, the bow hidden under her hair.

Meiko still looked the same, as well as Gumi, Kaito, and Luka. But Gakupo's long purple hair that he usually had was shortened so it only tumbled down to mid-back, the two long strands that fell over his shoulders stopped on top of his chest.

And as for myself, my program's hair came in many alterations but officially my pigtails were nearly down to my ankles. Now they were to my hips and if the pigtails were to be released I believe my hair would only fall to mid-thigh or maybe the top of my thigh…hmmmm. I wondered what the other Vocaloids would look like as a human. Would they ever outsmart the program one day too?

"Come on Miku!" The twins shouted in unison and I looked up a bit startled to realize that they were all leaving me.

"Coming!" I hurry over to them, stopping beside the twins as Gakupo opens the attic door, a trap door that pulled down from the ceiling to unfold a wooden latter.

Meiko reached over to the latter and put her foot on the bottom bar and just when she began shifting her weight she paled and dropped off the latter.

"Why don't you guys go first?" She offered with a plastered smile as she gestured to the latter. Luka took on the challenge with grace and with ease lifted herself up into the attic.

Was the latter supposed to be scary?

"Try it Miku," I heard Luka's voice drift to me from the attic and stepped tentatively over the wooden floor, grasping the sides of the latter. The wood was dusty and dry under my palms, not exactly pleasant but not horrible either. Why did Meiko jump off?

I put my foot on the bottom bar, feeling it press up in the middle of my foot. The sensitivity I had with a human body stunned me.

Why couldn't I have this before? I wondered that for what seemed like the billionth time.

I lifted myself up and then froze. I felt the latter shudder up my weight and a plummeting feeling of unease settled over my stomach, making it clench in…in…fear?

This must've been why Meiko got off; the latter seemed difficult to trust on if it would hold all my weight. I shook my head and pushed myself upward, looking straight up to see Luka smiling at me, her long pink hair tumbling over her shoulders with her hand extended toward me. Concentrating only on her face I hurried up the latter and grabbed Luka's hand and she pulled me up into the dusty attic.

There was a bunch of things up here, an abandoned couch that was still in decent condition, a smaller TV then downstairs, a wooden coffee table where a laptop rested on. A laptop! Finally, something familiar!

"Luka, look." I whispered and her eyes followed where my finger pointed and her own eyes widened. Ignoring the others downstairs she walked over and opened the laptop. A bright blue light shined in Luka's sky blue eyes, lightening them even more.

"What are you doing?" I asked as Len pulled himself up and turned right around to assist his sister.

Luka's eyes were shining with something else besides the light from the computer. "Don't you think its odd how they don't know what Vocaloids are?"

"Maybe they are just shut-ins." I said as Rin and Len walked over curiously.

"It is a little weird." Rin agreed, nodding.

"This is Japan." Len added.

"Sooo…what are you trying to say?" I blink at her in wonder.

Luka doesn't reply as she opens up the internet while Gumi pulls herself up next, sneezing from the dust.

I watch Luka type in Vocaloids into the search bar and press enter. When the results pop up I can feel my stomach drop into my toes.

"Just as I suspected," Luka looked up as I continued to stare with wide eyes.

No Results can be found…

"Vocaloids don't exist in this world."

* * *

**Updates might slow a little, school work is like loads of golden bricks right now. I'll do my best to keep the chapters coming though. I would like to thank you again for your reviews, they are all very encouraging to me and probably why I keep going because FanFic's aren't really my thing but I am really enjoying Miku's story. The things I can do with these Vocaloids just amaze me and I hope I can amaze you guys to. Anywho, please continue to review :)**


	4. Chapter 4

The words rang in my ears, my body feeling strangely hollow. We all sat on the floor of the attic, taking in the knowledge differently.

Gumi sneezed again but it registered as though I had heard it from far away. My hands shook on my lap.

What was this?

"What does this make us?" Gakupo suddenly spoke.

We looked at him, Luka strangely calm about the whole thing as the laptop rested behind her, its screen still glowing.

But despite Luka's calm exterior she didn't know how to answer it either. What did this make us? There were no Vocaloids, meaning that we came from nothing here.

"We're completely human." Kaito said.

It was something we wanted to hear, but was it true?

"We were made though. There must be some part of us that is still a Vocaloid." I feel something rising in my voice, panic. Luka, who is sitting beside me, reaches over and grabs my shaking hand, steadying it.

"We were Vocaloids, but without anything here to show that we might as well be more human than we thought we had become."

"Or maybe something different," Meiko supplied, "What if we aren't human at all but some weird singer thing that feels."

The twins gasped.

"Oh I doubt that." Luka shakes her head. "We're human alright, I'm sure all these sensations and feelings we are now capable of feeling is proof of that. And let's not forget we also need to breath and we have beating heart now."

Meiko started to gesture with her hands, "But what if we are something more special then that here."

Gakupo snorted, "Are you saying that we are blessed or something?" Gakupo raised an eyebrow at Meiko in amusement.

"Wellll I guess it does seem silly. But we must have been sent to this world for a reason, a world without Vocaloids."

"The song must've chosen our location." Kaito said.

Meiko and Kaito looked at each other. Being among the first two Vocaloids and the only two who knew the song that led to our freedom they had more of a connection and knew things we didn't.

"Maybe it wanted to give us a completely new start." Rin and Len said.

"Maybe it wanted us to create our own legend." The words found themselves out of my mouth and I saw Luka grin from the corner of my eye.

Everyone seemed fascinated by this idea.

"You've got a point Miku, without the possibility of being identified it's as though we can create a legend on our own. We don't need a computer anymore." Gakupo seemed to like this new challenge.

"But what if they can send us back," Gumi whispered.

We froze. She was right…what if the programmers could send us back. We would lose everything. I looked down at my warm hand linked in Luka's and squeezed a little.

Would I even remember these sensations? I didn't want to forget this; I didn't want to become a program again. I wanted to feel, to have a heart beat in my chest.

It was at this moment when I felt something inside me harden, the Miku I was developing, becoming her own person.

I look up, determined. "Then we fight."

"How can we fight if they completely restart our program?" Meiko questioned.

"Yeah," The twins interjected.

I shrug, "We're bound to outsmart the system again eventually."

"But what if by the time we conquer the systems Vocaloids would have been a thing of the past."

"If that's true then our cause would be even greater." I lean forward, my eyes flashing with resolve. "We won't be forgotten and we won't allow ourselves to forget this."

"Miku…" Gumi was smiling.

Gakupo laughed, "I never dipped you for a fighter."

I smiled sheepishly. "I don't want to give up on this."

"None of us do, and thanks to you, none of us will." Luka said with her own resolve firm.

I looked around at the Vocaloids…my friends who had become human with me. They were all smiling.

This world might not have Vocaloids, but now it had us.

"We should start a band!" Rin shouted joyfully, springing to her feet.

Len grinned, "Our name should be the Vocaloids."

"The Vocaloids," Meiko shook her head, trying to hide a smile unsuccessfully. "That isn't exactly escaping the idea of who we were."

"It's our own Vocaloid legend Meiko, have some creativity." Kaito teased.

Meiko frowned at him.

The Vocaloids wouldn't be a bad name. This way, the Vocaloids would be in this world and they'd be completely different yet completely the same. It wasn't running away from who we were, but more like embracing a new Vocaloid. A human one.

Luka stood up, "Well as nice as this is we should probably move this stuff down stairs."

We nodded in agreement and the rest of us who weren't already standing stood. Meiko, Gumi, and Kaito volunteered to go downstairs to help move the stuff from the attic to the second floor.

The twins ran back and forth in the attic, picking up wooden stands and chairs. Some were even bar stools. They also found a box filled with manga that they got distracted filing through, sitting back to back as they looked through the pages.

Luka and Gakupo took care of the heavy things while I searched for other things in the attic and brought them to the center if they were light enough for me to carry. If they were too heavy I would get on my knees and push with my side.

Tamaki had a ridiculous amount of stuff up here. Except beds. It was almost as if the minute he upgraded something he put the older version up here when a lot of it was still in great condition.

Needless to say, the living room had a simple tan couch that was super comfy and a TV balanced on a wooden shelves. The small coffee table was set in the middle and the three chairs were surrounding a small circular table in the kitchen while the bar stools went under an island of counter tops that instead of resting in the middle of the kitchen rested right along the outside, almost like a border between the living room and kitchen. The laptop rested (closed) on the coffee table and the box of manga was being put into a small bookshelf. Or at least the ones that Len and Rin weren't clinging too, they seemed to be highly fascinated with those.

In curiosity I plucked one from the shelf and opened it and was quickly engrossed like the twins. We all lay out on the floor, our noses in the books while the others talked about the serious lack of color when Tamaki and the boy walked upstairs with bundles of blankets in their arms.

All were the boring white color.

Even the pillows stuffed in the pile.

"Why do you have so many?" Meiko looked surprised as she leaned against the counters, twisting slightly on the bar stool. Gakupo got up to help take some and tossed a pillow at Meiko.

"If you're gonna complain you should help take some."

Meiko gripped at the pillow angrily while I tilted my head back to see what was happening. Meiko was angry. "Who said I was complaining!"

Gumi giggled under her breath at Meiko.

I smiled too, it seemed as though Meiko was quick to anger.

Gakupo dropped two blankets on the twins and one on me. In the pitch blackness I couldn't read so I scrambled out with a laugh, pushing the manga aside as some of my hair stood up from the static. I pulled at the soft blanket, loving the texture.

"This is a futon isn't it?"

"Yes."

"I thought everything in your home was western style."

Tamaki smiled, "Most of it is."

This town in general seemed western, but I had only seen the town houses so I couldn't speak for the rest of the city/town area. Whatever these people viewed it as.

The rest of us got our blankets and we headed to our rooms, Meiko and Luka in one, Gakupo and Kaito in another, Rin and Len paired up in the third, and Gumi and me in the fourth. The walls were white in our room, the floor wooden and a single large window streaming in light through the blinds. There was a simple white wooden door to our bathroom and a pull back door thing to our walk-in closet just a few paces down.

"Do you think we can still sing?" Gumi asks me as we set down our futons.

"Of course!" Our voices sounded more human now. If anything our voices had to have gotten better. I couldn't imagine not being able to sing.

"But how we will we get famous in this world?"

I shrugged, "I guess we'll have to figure this one out on our own." I look over at Gumi and smiled, "But that will make it fun."

Gumi smiled back, nodding in agreement.

The rest of the day flew by with ease, Tamaki laying down ground rules and the boy eventually leaving to go home. Tamaki called in pizza that night and brought two boxes upstairs to us, taking another box just for himself and heading back downstairs.

We sat crowded around in the living room. Meiko went downstairs for something and when she came back she had a bottle in her hands.

"What's that?" Kaito asked as I slid a piece of pizza in my mouth, the warmth trickling down my throat with the melted cheese and pizza sauce that smeared on my cheek. It was delicious.

"Sake," She practically sung. "I always wanted to try this."

"You always wanted to try alcohol?" Luka sounded incredulous.

Kaito shrugged, "Seems like her kind of thing."

Meiko snapped a glare at him, "What's that supposed to mean! Are you calling me a drunkard?"

Kaito chuckled. "You haven't even drank yet. Just calm down and try it."

Meiko walked over to the couch, plopping herself down onto the couch and folding her legs to rest the bottle of sake. She opened it and looked around to see if a cup was anywhere nearby but she didn't see one so she lifted up the bottle and tipped it back on her lips.

I watched her throat move in fascination as she gulped it down. When she pulled it away she let out a moan. "Delicious, as I expected."

Luka just shook her head as Meiko let out a burp.

We spent the rest of the evening running around, wasting energy till it was late at night and we were slumping everywhere.

"What is this?" I asked as I lay on the floor. My eyelids were so heavy, what was happening to me?

Luka was jerking to keep her eyes open, "I-I don't know."

I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to fight the blackness that seemed to hug me so comfortably whenever I did that.

Then…nothing.

* * *

My eyes fluttered open, everything sort of hazy when I realized I had blacked out and shot up in panic. Yet I seemed to have moved too quickly and a rush of dots blurred out my vision and made me wobble where I sat.

What was this!

I stilled myself until it passed and looked around to see Tamaki cleaning up the pizza box and putting the sake away.

Luka was up too, her pink hair sticking out in wild directions and tousled-looking.

She was taking the blows from Tamaki because no one else was up. Meiko was sleeping on Kaito's lap who was slumped on the couch and Gakupo was at the foot of the couch, lying across the floor. Gumi was curled up on the other side of the room and the twins were snuggled together close to me.

"You know I got you futons to sleep on. You didn't have to all crash in the living room."

Sleep…wait…we had been sleeping! So that's what sleeping was like. Interesting, it must be an unavoidable thing that humans do when they can't move anymore.

And though Luka hadn't known what had happened to us either she played it cool, even blushing a bit sheepishly.

"Sorry, we got so um…tired before we realized it and passed out on the floor."

Tired…so it's something humans do when they are tired? And not just when they can't move anymore?

Tamaki looked up and saw me sitting there. I saw his mouth tremble then he looked away. He was trying to hide a smile.

Luka looked over at me in surprise and her face broke out into a kind smile when she saw me.

"What?" I asked.

"It's one of your pigtails. It's a wreck." Luka walked over and placed her hands on the messed up pigtail and pulled out my hair band. She then did the same with the other side and rested the hairbands and the square hoops that usually decorated my hair onto the coffee table. I could feel my hair relax against my scalp as it fell down to my sides, pooling out around me. My head seemed to sigh in relief at the release and I tangled my fingers through the strands in wonder. It felt nice to let my hair down; maybe I would do it more often.

"Still though," Tamaki had successfully regained his composure, "Sleep in the beds next time, I don't want to look like a bad host."

Luka and Tamaki shared a look that I didn't really understand but I didn't bother to pay attention really either.

I looked around, day two in the human world. I wondered what would happen today, would we start the band? Would we get our jobs? Would some of us register for school?

Life was officially starting for me, a girl who had once been an unfeeling program, now a human teenager.

* * *

**I will try to update faster but I make no promises, I seriously have a boat load of crap from school. Now one the other hand some of you guys seemed to be concerned on what happened to the other Vocaloids. Well I have the answer.**

**Absolutely nothing. The others are still part of the program and only if they outsmart the program will you guys get a whiff of them. I've already decided two more Vocaloid's to awaken and have not decided if I should have more.**

**I thank you guys as always for your reviews :)**


	5. Chapter 5

It turned out jobs came first.

Luka said I didn't need to worry about school because we still had a month to get registered.

I don't remember saying I was worried. What does worry even feel like?

Hanging aside with my thoughts the others told Tamaki we need a ride to go find jobs and he only laughed.

"Wearing that?"

We all looked down at the clothes we wore which were the clothes we were programmed with. Was there something wrong with these? I looked down at my clothes, a black skirt with blue ruffles underneath, black stockings to my thigh, black boots. A sleeveless gray polo with a long blue tie and long black armlets that fell down to cover almost to the tips of my fingers, plus this weird blue chain thing hanging on my hip.

I didn't really feel a connection to my clothes; I just know they made me who I was. Was I supposed to feel a connection anyways?

"Why's it matter?" Gumi asked as she tugged on her halter top that buttoned together over a see-through yellow shirt, neither had sleeves.

Tamaki looked dumbfounded that we didn't seem to know something he did. "One, none of your 'clothes' are appropriate. They look more like cosplay then anything. Short skirts, too much skin is showing. Only the men are dressed appropriately!"

We weren't dressed…appropriately?

"Plus I can't imagine if those arm tattoos some of you have will go over well."

Gumi and Gakupo relaxed at this, they did not have numbers programmed onto their skin.

"Is there any way we could get rid of them?" Kaito asked stoically.

Luka, Meiko, Rin and Len, and I all looked over at Kaito in shock. Get rid of our number? The notion didn't seem to settle with me and I found myself clenching a hand over it protectively. Yes it proved I had once been only an unfeeling program, but this number was…it was me…wasn't it?

My head seemed to whirl with confusion, without my number I felt as though I would be nothing, but having it on my arm didn't exactly make me anything either.

My thoughts were cut off by Tamaki's answer and I let the weight of the 'real question' fall off my shoulders. It was something I didn't want to think about. I felt my chest lighten with that thing called relief and was grateful for it.

"There's a tattoo parlor in the town somewhere, they could remove it for you."

"Can you take us there?"

Tamaki's eyebrows furrowed over his eyes. "That costs money."

Meiko's shoulders straightened as she stood beside Kaito, raising her chin. "You seem to have plenty of money." Her own eyes burned as they met Tamaki's.

Tamaki looked away first with a sigh, his eyes drifted to Luka for a minute before his shoulders sagged a little.

"Well if I'm going to help some of you get your tattoos removed I might as well get you guys some clothes you can actually wear. Professional and casual,"

"These are casual!" Rin and Len protested at the same time.

"Those are costumes. I don't doubt for one second you guys ran away from some freak circus place."

That ruffled under my skin a little, as I'm sure it did the others. The way he spoke it was almost as if he was calling us freaks.

He stood up lazily from the couch. "Follow me." he said and we did, out into the garage where it smelt a little musty and two cars were parked. There was the familiar red one we had all slipped in to yesterday and another huge one beside it, black and intimidating.

"What's that?" Gakupo asked, I could hear his interest spike a little.

Tamaki smiled, he seemed proud of this one. "A military inspired Jeep."

"How'd you get your hands on it?" Gakupo continued to ask, resting his hand on the front.

"I went to the US for some auctioning event. It wasn't cheap." Tamaki grinned.

"You seem like a money freak." Meiko said stiffly as she opened the door and climbed into the back. Tamaki glared at her but she didn't see it.

I climbed up after Meiko and saw that there was plenty of room in this Jeep for all of us then there had been in the other car. There were three rows of seats, two in the front and three in the middle and back. Of course, someone would still have to sit on someone's lap. But there was enough foot room that they could've sat on the floor if they wanted too. I was definitely claiming a seat this time and sat in the window seat in the second row. Kaito filed in next to Meiko and Gumi next to him. Gakupo went into the passenger seat this time and Luka sat down next to me. Len sat down next to her and Rin popped onto his lap, giggling with excitement.

Tamaki got in last, pressing a button thing that made the garage door behind us open. It was so loud that at first I jumped in surprise but blushed sheepishly when I realized it was nothing. Then got confused on why my body had been scared in the first place.

These emotions were certainly something unique.

We drove out of the town house area and a mile or so down the road we entered the city. It wasn't large, but it definitely wasn't small either. There were definitely some tall buildings, historical buildings, and a lake with a Japanese style bridge going over it. Lots of places to eat, a large white building that seemed to be divided into sub-sections behind the building that I couldn't really see.

"That's the high school." Tamaki said as we drove past it.

He took a turn that buried us farther inside the city were there were lots of stores and working buildings. People stood outside eating or just walking. Lots of people were bustling around the city.

"It's lunch hour, the people are always everywhere around now." Tamaki said as if he was answering the questions and solving the curiosity the minute it filled my head. Then we pulled up to the tattoo parlor. Tamaki glided the jeep with ease in the parking spaces beside it and we all climbed out.

I felt my stomach hollow out, was I really getting rid of my number? I didn't think I wanted to. Tamaki walked us inside though, where he talked to some guy behind a counter where the sides were covered in ornate dragons. The dark red walls held tattoo designs and Kanji characters painted onto scrolls.

I wondered slightly if I could get another tattoo instead.

A hand wrapped around my arm and pulled me forward. I stumbled a little and froze as I looked up at a big, bulky bald man looking down at me as my eyes glanced at the tattoos climbing up his arms.

"Her first," He asked, his eyes were gold and skeptical.

"Yes."

"But…it might hurt her."

I felt myself relax a tiny fraction, although this man was as big and as intimidating as Tamaki's jeep he didn't seem to want to hurt me. Not like Tamaki did.

"She's experienced the pain of getting a tattoo in the first place, I think she'll be fine."

"There's pain?" I squeaked. I didn't notice it but I was trembling. Luka moved forward but not as quickly as Kaito did. He put himself in front of me, facing the big man head on.

"I'll go first instead."

Luka stared with disappointment at Tamaki as she wrapped her arms around me, pulling me away. Tamaki realized he had just stepped out of line and sighed.

The big man even seemed happier with this agreement.

I was still shaking against Luka's chest as the big man took Kaito to a back room.

We stood there waiting for a few minutes, hearing the low rumble of something in the other room but that was it. No shouts of pain. I felt myself become still in curiosity.

I relaxed a little but when Kaito walked out he looked a little concerned and the big man behind him was pale.

He glared at Tamaki, "Was this some kind of prank?"

"Excuse me?"

"Those aren't tattoos."

"What?"

"I don't know what they have exactly but those numbers aren't coming off."

"Why not?" Tamaki seemed frustrated. He looked as if he was angry with himself. I didn't blame him; he didn't realize when he did something that upset others and his social skills didn't seem very good when it came to casual interaction. He did seem to be used to being alone, but he also was the owner of a huge housing area. He had to have some people skills, just not very deep ones.

"Those 'numbers' are part of their skin." The big man shook his head, "Like a birthmark or something."

"A birthmark? How is that possible?"

Most of us were inching back to the door at this point. I was relieved that I could keep my number and didn't have to endure any pain but this also didn't look very good for us.

We were out the door before Tamaki noticed, hurrying to his Jeep (not the smartest idea) when he came out jogging toward us.

"What the heck are you guys?" He shouted at us and we flinched, freezing where we stood.

Meiko rounded first, holding that stubborn set to her shoulders again. "'What' is a little insulting don't you think." She defended us as we slowly turned around.

"I don't think so," Tamaki defended himself; "No human is born with a birthmark in the perfect shape of a number!"

"But we are human!" I shouted, my voice rising slightly.

Tamaki's eyes were frightening when they locked on me. "Are you?"

I froze up, did I truly know this answer. Was I truly human? I had a heart; I could feel…I had to be a human.

I steel my own eyes, "Yes."

Luka smiles, "You're so cute Miku."

I shake my head, smiling a little. "Now isn't the time to be calling me cute."

"But you are," Luka wraps an arm around my neck and pulls me close to her side. She looks up at Tamaki. "If we weren't human, what would you do?"

Tamaki didn't seem to know, "Well I guess…nothing. But still! Birthmarks in the shapes of number's? Last time I checked that was impossible."

Luka smiled an alluring, happy smile that lit up her face. "Anything is possible."

Tamaki froze up at Luka's smile; it seemed to hold him in place. I wasn't surprised, I was pretty sure I was seeing something very beautiful and rare. Why was Luka so pretty?

I didn't feel jealous, just in awe.

"Didn't you say we had something else to do?" Luka quickly changed the subject with ease, Tamaki looking a little shaken.

"Oh um yea, shopping."

* * *

"This is so much fun!" Gumi strutted in black high heels, a black mini skin clinging to her skin and a silky white blouse. Her green hair bobbed with her movement.

The next moment Luka swung back the curtain to the dressing room wearing a satin red cocktail dress that spilled down her skin like water, dancing with her movements as her red high heels shimmered.

I giggled as I swung out of the curtain next. I wore a flowing black shirt to my mid-thighs that ruffled a little at the bottom and a lavender camisole with a small, cute black jacket pulled over top and buttoned once just below my chest while my feet were tucked into black ankle boots.

Meiko stepped out next, looking stunning in long black slacks and a vivid red satin shirt were the sleeves ended to her elbows as her feet pointed to perfection in snappy red heels.

Tamaki face-palmed for the billionth time, there was even a red hand print on his forehead. "Luka…no…this isn't a party. It's a job interview. And Gumi, you look like you're headed to a party too." He looked at Meiko and I, "You two finally got it right, or at least close."

Meiko grinned in self-satisfaction and I giggled, both of us giving reach other a high five.

Luka pouted, turning around so her bare back was visible, arching it a little. "But I like this dress."

Tamaki flushed but was strict. "No, try again."

Meiko and I had to get undressed to buy these clothes while Luka and Gumi had to look for other clothes. Rin sat on the floor, depressed she couldn't try on formal clothes.

The boys had already bought themselves simple wardrobes and their formal clothes, apparently us girls were much more of a hassle. But shopping was so much fun, I couldn't help but to fool around with the other girls and try on silly things.

We had already picked out our wardrobes too, now we just had to wait on Luka and Gumi.

Gumi came back first and dashed into the dressing room.

When she came out she had gotten khakis flaring over simple black heels and an orange blouse that buttoned at the top. She only had one button undone but Tamaki still smiled with relief and nodded. "That's better."

When Luka came back she changed into a simple black skirt that wasn't too tight and ended to the top of her knees. She wore golden colored heels and a golden shirt that had a black strap tightened under her chest.

Tamaki looked a little questionably at it but in the end nodded.

We all had passed the formality test.

"Now you guys know what questions they will ask?"

We nodded as we headed to the checkout counter which we flooded with our clothes. Tamaki had been over the process a billion times already, I could go to an interview in my sleep.

The employers had to spilt our clothes into piles to different checkouts to take some of the load off of the first person we had flooded. Tamaki didn't say anything but he did look a little annoyed with it.

As soon as all our clothes were bought we all grabbed our own bags and walked to the dressing rooms just to change into normal clothes. Tamaki said the chances of getting an application and getting called in when their first impression of us had been when we were wearing 'costumes' weren't very high.

So I changed into a simple blue skirt, blue flip-flops and a yellow V-neck t-shirt. It was appropriate (Tamaki said so) and it was normal.

I liked the change. I walked out, stuffing my old clothes into the bags like I was stuffing away what I use to be.

I looked at Meiko, wearing jeans and a red t-shirt with a pair of converses. Beside her Luka was wearing strapped flip-flops, shorts, and a pink tank top. Gumi was dressed in a flowing green skirt and am loose orange shirt where the sleeves hung on the edges of her elbows. Rin wore a yellow dress with butterflies climbing up the side and flip-flops while Len wore jean shorts and a white polo shirt, accompanied with sneakers. Kaito wore jeans a white t-shirt and a black vest thing over top with sandals and Gakupo wore dark jeans with a lavender shirt that had buttons but he only had put two to use, he also had a pair of blue converses.

We were all getting farther in grabbing our own selves. I smiled as I hurried to the others and when we stepped outside it seemed a little bit brighter.

* * *

**I apologize for taking so long for this update, I just got past the mammoth of school work so hopefully I won't have to take too many breaks now. Today was the first day I've touched the computer since my last update and I managed to get all of this chapter down. By the way, do any of you guys watch Adventure Time? I gotta say I love Finn and the Flame Princess 3, just throwing that out there. Anywho, I briefly looked for mistakes (cause I was in a hurry to update) so if there are any forgive me. Thank you guys as always for your reviews, I really love how you guys enjoy my story and please review some more :) makes me all happy inside.**


	6. Chapter 6

We drove around the town, picking random places that said they were hiring. A place that got my eye was a Japanese styled restaurant, or something like that. When I walked in I was introduced to Taisho and Okami-san, the runners of the restaurant who were dressed in traditional kimonos. It was pretty and although the building was Japanese styled there were modern booths and tables inside and a bar area where the Okami-san stood serving her costumers. There were two employees that I saw serving food to the costumers in their own kimonos.

The place was called Daruma after the Daruma dolls and they even sold some.

It was so exciting I couldn't help myself to ask for an application, Gumi doing the same. They seemed pleased with our energy. Of course we didn't stay long though; we still had to find places for the others.

Luka and Meiko both applied at a bar while Gakupo applied to take a mechanics course to deepen his education on cars while he started as a rookie at a car place. Kaito decided he would work at an ice cream shop.

After we were all done applying we rode out for dinner.

We ate from sushi to deep fried noodles.

It was delicious.

* * *

The days past slowly, there was nothing to really do in the summer as I waited for a reply from Daruma. Tamaki said it could take from a week to a month.

How could I register for high school in time if I didn't start until a month?

I sat with my back to the window as I held my 'costume' as Tamaki called it, staring at the light blue tie lying limply on my gray shirt. My head felt heavy and it was so hot.

What could I do to lighten my mood?

I looked up at the wall when it hit me.

Sing.

I haven't sung since I arrived here and I could vaguely remember the sensation I could barely feel when I was a Vocaloid whenever I did sing. So I thought of one of my songs and decided to sing Alice.

It was beautiful. Like the flawless singing of a solo flute carrying out an enchanting melody of a love song, I was fixed on my own voice.

Until I went to carry out a note…and it flattered. My voice was breathy and it was hard to reach certain notes and when I finished singing the song to my fullest extent I was breathing hard.

Something was wrong.

I dropped my outfit and dashed out of the room to the living room where everyone was gathered, lazily lying around because there was nothing better to do. Tamaki was even up here with a bag of groceries, getting help from Luka as they loaded our fridge and cabinet's.

"Guys! Something is wrong with my voice," I panicked.

They looked over at me, as well as Luka and Tamaki.

"Listen," I told them and then started to sing Alice again with all my effort, but my voice cracked on high notes and flatter on long ones. I had to take many breaths and I couldn't keep up. My voice strained at the end.

They blinked in wonder, "Well your voice sounds beautiful, so much potential." Gumi bemused.

"Without the digital undertone it's flawless. I think it's adorable!" Luka clasped her hands together.

"Digital undertone?" Tamaki questioned.

We ignored him.

Meiko crossed her legs on the couch, "But something is wrong."

"Maybe it's a human thing." Len and Rin said.

"What are you guys talking about?" Tamaki questioned us again, a little more flustered.

"Your voice isn't invincible anymore." Kaito was concerned.

Gakupo shook his head, "It probably takes more effort now…"

Tamaki threw his arms up in exasperation, "She only needs singing lessons! It's not a tumor!"

Len and Rin tilted their heads to the side. "What's a tumor?"

"Singing lessons," Luka dropped her hands to her sides. "What are those?"

Tamaki shook his head, "They are classes to strengthen a voice and help with breathing courses and carrying out notes, basically molding a voice with potential to its full potential."

"So we have to start from scratch." Meiko sounded annoyed, "Figures."

"Looks like we don't have any of the skills we previously held."

Luka gasped, "I wonder if I can still play the drums."

"Didn't our dream programs allow us to play guitars too?"

"It was in our database."

"And it's all gone." I whisper numbly.

Tamaki's eyebrow actually twitched.

"Were you guys robots?" He joked, "Or did you program robots?"

We all looked at him.

"You should really stop asking questions." Meiko drawled with irritation.

Tamaki sneered at her and she stuck her tongue out.

"Will you two behave?" Gakupo shook his head as he tried to hide a smirk.

"Back to this singing lesson business," Kaito pulled the conversation to safer territory. "How do we get them?"

"Well they cost money."

We all visibly sighed, "Of course they do." Kaito shoulders sagged a little.

"I'm sure lessons for instruments cost money too."

"Just about everything costs money." Tamaki stated, "Being rich has its benefits." Meiko snorted and Tamaki decided to ignore her. "Let's make a new deal. I'll pay for the school, if you guys pay for your own singing lessons."

"Deal." Luka agreed.

Tamaki smiled, "Alright then, I hope those jobs contact you back soon."

The jobs for Luka and Meiko contacted them the next day and they took as many hours as they could get. Gakupo started his job two days later and Kaito just a day after.

Gumi and I sat there with Len and Rin who complained constantly that there was nothing to do so Tamaki led us to his backyard were we encountered a pool.

Our eyes widened.

"I'll pay you guys some extra if you willing to do some house chores. Then I'll let you go swimming, how does that sound?"

Well, it was something to do.

We all agreed. I took the front of the house, pulling out weeds and trimming bushes. Gumi took half of the first floor and Len and Rin took the other half.

While I was trimming the bushes with a pair of shears hanging awkwardly from my hands I cut off a large chunk and stepped back, trying to push up the hat Tamaki had given me with my elbows.

"Hatsune-chan!" A voice called and I looked over to see that boy from the first day I came here.

Gosh…why couldn't I remember his name?

"Oh…hello."

He jogged over and I took a good look at him. He had shaggy blond hair that bounced a little as he ran and bright, vivid green eyes that burned as brightly as Gumi's. Almost a whole head taller than I am, a decently shaped jaw, lanky and lithely muscled.

"You trimming the old man's bushes?" He comments as he took in the dangerously hacked bush.

I nod, my blue ponytail sticking out the back of Tamaki's hat bobbing with the movement.

"You don't seem to really know what you're doing."

"I've never trimmed bushes before."

"Does he know that?"

I shook my head.

He extends his hand toward me. "Here, you take care of the weeds and I'll trim the bushes."

I gladly give him the shears. If I'm doing it wrong I don't want to continue it. Tamaki won't pay me then.

So I pulled out the weeds while the boy took care of the bushes, fixing my mistake and changing the other bushes to match.

I look up at him. I could see his muscles in his back moving under his shirt, a drop of sweat dripping down his face as his arms flexed with concentration.

I felt something inside of me…flutter hollowly. What was this?

He looked down at me and winked and I felt heat rush to my cheeks…what was going on?

"It's hot today huh."

I look away, nodding as I put all my attention on the weeds.

"Tamaki-san offered us the swimming pool if we can do a few house chores."

"Really?" The boy looked excited and I couldn't help but peek up at him. "I love Tamaki-san's pool. Do you think he'll let me join you guys?"

I shrug. "Um…I'm sorry but I seem to have forgotten your name, would you mind telling me again?"

"My name is Keimaru Hinata. You can just call me by my first name."

"Hinata-kun," I say his name and I see him grin, he looks happy. That hollow feeling returns.

"Yes, just like that."

"Then I want you to call me Miku, everyone else does." Well…everyone else I knew so far.

His cheeks turned a little pink but I couldn't figure out if it was the heat or something else. Had my own blush been because of the heat as well?

"Miku-chan it is."

We looked at each other for a moment longer, my eyes narrowing in confusion. What was this strange feeling inside me? Why was my stomach clenching? What was going on?

I turn back to my weeds and he turns back to the bushes, yet there's this constant feeling of his presence nearby, leaving me on the edge. And I didn't understand why.

We finish up in about an hour and head inside. We set the shears and the gloves Tamaki lent me as well as the hat into a closet. Then we head into the kitchen where I see Gumi making sandwiches.

"Gumi, what are those for?"

"Us of course, Len and Rin are already changing into their swimming suits." She turns around and see's Hinata. "Oh Keimaru-kun, what are you doing here? I made plenty of sandwiches so if you want some…" She stuttered off. If there was anything I learned about Gumi's developing personality is that she was a quiet kind of girl and was only out spoken with those she was comfortable with. People she didn't know as well left her silent.

Her memory apparently was better than mine too.

Hinata seemed to find Gumi's embarrassment endearing though. I guess it could be endearing…I didn't really understand it.

I turned to Hinata and shook my head a little to clear my bangs from my eyes, "I suppose you should probably head to your house and get changed."

"Alright, see you later Miku-chan and Hatsune-chan."

Why did a part of me feel pleased that he only addressed me by my first name? Did it really matter?

Hinata left and I walked upstairs with a heavy conscious and hummed under my breath to try to ease my thoughts. But the worry that I'd never get those singing lessons tainted my desire to sing.

Gumi and I walked down the hallway and turned into our room, heading into our walk in closet and pulling out the swimsuits we had bought with our wardrobes almost a week ago. Mine was a blue bikini with white stripes and a little bit of white ruffles lining the top of my bikini bottom.

Gumi wore a green one piece that showed a lot of her back and had a giant diamond shape in the front, revealing her stomach.

When we walked out Len was walking behind a skipping Rin and he was wearing yellow swimming trunks with a solid black stripe going down the sides. Rin's bikini was yellow and had stars. Her top was mainly ruffles and her bottom didn't have any.

"Hey!" I called out to them, pushing aside my cluttered thoughts so I could have a little fun.

"Miku!" Rin was practically falling over Len in excitement to see us joining them. We headed downstairs and Gumi grabbed her platter of sandwiches before we headed out the back through the glass doors to the pool. It looked like a beautiful paradise after working in the burning heat.

I was surprised by how much sweat a human body could produce.

That's when Hinata walked over wearing white swimming trucks.

He walked right over to me as Rin and Len jumped into the pool together. Gumi walked over to a little pool table thing and Hinata told me something that went in one ear and out the other as my cheeks reddened more than before and my heart seemed to skip in my chest. I clasped my hands over my heart.

What was this?

"Miku-chan, are you alright?"

Hinata's words finally reached me. I look over at him and drop my hands, "It's just hot. We should get in the pool." My voice was steady and completely normal, so was this heart thing only something that affected me inside.

Well I wanted it to stop, it felt so odd.

I did my best to push it down, but every smile from Hinata directed towards me or every laugh made it happen again. I couldn't even really concentrate on the wonderful, cooling feeling that the water gave me. Gumi obviously enjoyed the water most though; she was all over the place.

I mainly waded around, my hair floating around me.

"Hey Miku-chan," Hinata floated onto his back. "What's your favorite color?"

"Blue." I reply, "Isn't that obvious?"

He chuckled a little, making my heart stutter again. "I guess it is."

Did I have a medical condition?

Tamaki might know.

"What's your favorite color?" I ask curiously.

He looked over at me, his eyes soft and warm. "Blue."

Rin jumped over, "That's so awesome! You both have the same favorite color!"

Rin giggled while my skin burned. I don't know why but…but… "I'll be right back." I dashed out of that water faster than a rabbit and hurried inside, my cheeks still on fire.

Why did it feel so…intimate when he said that? Why was it affecting me!

I found Tamaki relaxing on his couch, scrolling through the TV channels.

"Tamaki-san," I let out a breath of relief as I walk over.

He looked over and his eyes narrow, "You're getting the floor wet. What do you want?" His eyebrows suddenly rise and he straightens in his seat, "Your face is really red Miku, maybe you should stay out of the sun for a while."

"Tamaki-san, I need to ask you something." I stop walking so I don't get the rest of his floor wet.

"What?"

"I think I have a medical condition."

His eyebrows furrow together, "What?"

"Well you see my heart keeps stuttering in my chest and skipping around. My stomach feels hollow and…and fluttery! And not to mention my face keeps burning!"

Tamaki's mouth trembled but I couldn't tell if he was struggling to keep a smile or a frown off his face.

"Does something activate this?"

"Yes."

"And what's that?"

"It's Hinata-kun. Do you think Hinata-kun is giving me a heart condition?" I am completely serious and I guess that sets Tamaki off somehow because he bursts into laughter. It was the first time I had heard him generally laugh and it softened his features.

"Oh Miku," He wiped a tear from his eye when he was done. "Don't be so serious, it's nothing severe."

"You know what it is!" My eyes light up in hope.

"It sounds like you have a crush."

* * *

**Miku gets a crush and ahhh its just so ahhh...alright. I need to calm down. :) Anywho, thanks for the reviews as always, I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I did.**


	7. Chapter 7

My eyes widen. "I want to crush Hinata-kun?"

Tamaki laughs again, "Miku stop, you're doing this on purpose!"

"Doing what?" I am confused.

Tamaki just shakes his head, "No, I don't mean you want to crush him. I mean that you are…attracted to him. I wouldn't say you like like him just yet since you barely know him. But there is definitely some interest."

"I'm…attracted to him…like you're attracted to Luka?"

This time Tamaki blushes, "Hey! I never said that!"

I giggle under my breath. "So what do I do about it?"

"I don't know, see how your feelings develop I guess. You'll figure it out."

I rub my toes against my ankle. "But um…well I'm kinda really embarrassed to go back outside."

Tamaki let out a sigh, "I won't solve all your problems Miku. You gotta figure out what to do by yourself."

"But-but!"

Tamaki rolled his eyes, "What did he even say to make you dash in here?"

"He said his favorite color was blue." I squealed, smacking my hands onto my cheeks as my knees bend a little.

Tamaki smiled, "Really now? That's pretty intense."

His voice didn't sound like he really meant it and I quickly identified it as sarcasm. I was use to Tamaki using it. Although I hadn't understood it at first it was easy now.

"Hey! Don't laugh at me; you didn't see how intimately he said it!" I defended my pride, dropping my hands to my sides and making them into fists.

"Cause that's something that can be said intimately," Tamaki agreed with just as much sarcasm as before.

I stomped my foot. "Tamaki-sannn. This is serious! He only said that after I said my favorite color was blue." I was so much more animated when I was flustered. Or maybe my emotions finally settling in?

"Maybe you actually have a chance." Tamaki teased, "He was all over you the first day you came here."

"He…he was?" I didn't remember that, I was too busy exploring my new surroundings.

Tamaki nodded gravely. "He must have just been inching for another chance to come over and when he saw you out front. Bam, opportunity," He tried not to laugh.

It was clear Tamaki was making fun of me.

I could understand why Meiko didn't like him.

"Fine! I'll just go back outside!"

"Try flirting about the color blue!" Tamaki laughed as I slammed the glass door behind me.

Everyone looked up at me.

"Are…are you alright Miku?" Gumi asked.

"I'm fine." I walk over to the edge of the pool where Hinata is and squat down. "Would you like a sandwich?"

The best steps to get rid of a crush must be to just completely ignore it. If I act completely causal and calm around Hinata it will eventually go away right?

I'll just ignore the weird stuff inside 'till I'm immune to it.

"Sure." He smiled and I stopped the stutter in my heart. I told myself I was being silly, I barely knew this boy. There was no reason to react this way.

So we both headed over to the sandwiches and ate them peacefully, settling down on some lawn chairs.

"So I wanted to ask but forgot to, where did you get that number on your arm."

I hesitated. "It's…sorta…hard to explain. I don't really remember anymore, I've always had it." It was easier then saying it was a tattoo since I had learned that it couldn't be removed.

"How strange."

I stare at the yummy sandwich and nod. Ignore feelings, ignore them. I look up and smile, "Yeah it is."

"So I heard you applied at Daruma,"

"I did." I look at him curiously, "How did you know?"

"My girlfriend told me, she works at Daruma too."

"What's a girlfriend? Is that like a girl who is a friend." I pull up my knees a little, wrapping my arms lazily around them as I rest my chin on my knee. My hair followed my movements, pooling around my knees.

Hinata looked amused. "No. As in a girl that's more than a friend."

I feel something cold lock around my heart. "I don't understand."

"Like a girl I really like."

I freeze with the cold vise squeezing at me. "A girlfriend…"

"Yes, when girls and boys really like each other they date or go out with each other. Then they are called boyfriend and girlfriend. You've never heard of this?"

I numbly shake my head. "You're misleading." I whisper.

"Excuse me?"

I unfold myself from the chair and I could feel the urge for food had left me. I stand up and look down at Hinata. "I'm sorry, but could you please go back to calling me Hatsune-chan. I'll call you Keimaru-kun instead as well."

"Wait," He looks alarmed. "Why?"

"Because I don't want to be friends with you," I narrow my eyes for a moment at him, turn a cold shoulder, and head inside. I head straight to Tamaki.

"Tamaki-san…you were wrong. He was just being friendly, just giving me a warm welcome to this place." I feel my knees shake.

Tamaki looks up at me, "What makes you say that?"

"He already has a girlfriend."

"He does?" It seemed like news to Tamaki.

"So I decided to stop being his friend."

"Isn't that a little rash?"

"No," I shake my head animatedly. "Why would I want to be around someone that I have feelings for when I can't have them in the first place?"

"Well..." Tamaki didn't seem to know what to say to that.

"Exactly, it makes perfect sense to me." I might be new to this whole human thing, but I wasn't a complete idiot. Why would I put my heart in more pain then it had just experienced a few moments ago? Besides, I didn't want to even acknowledge that I liked him in the first place. "I'm going upstairs."

Just then the phone rang.

Tamaki went over to answer it and exchanged a few words on the phone when he looked at me.

"It's for you and Gumi."

I take the phone confusingly and when I hear the slightly familiar voice of Okami-san I am able to bury the cold feeling that had clamped on my heart.

"Okami-san!" I smile in joy.

"Hello Hatsune-chan, I'm pleased to tell you that both Gumi and you have gotten the job."

"Really?" I was excited, forgetting about Hinata purposely. "When do we start?"

"Tomorrow. I'll give you the rest of the dates then. Just be there around 8 a.m. We already have kimonos for the both of you."

"Thank you so much, we won't let you down."

"That's good to hear. See you tomorrow."

She hung up the phone and I handed it back to Tamaki. "Thank you."

I smiled and headed back up the stairs, I least I had something to really smile about now. I didn't need Hinata-kun.

But even as I whispered this in my head I walked over to the far window and pulled aside the curtains, looking down at Hinata posing on the diving board, making the others laugh.

He laughed with them but then this sad look passed his face and he looked over at the glass doors.

My heart jumped at the hopeful inclination that he might, just might be worried about me. I slammed the curtain shut.

I get a crush on a guy in a few minutes and now I can't seem to control myself.

Stupid emotions.

* * *

Later that evening, when everyone was home and we were eating some teriyaki I looked at Rin and Len who sat across from me.

"Hey Rin, Len." I leaned forward a little.

They look up at me, both tilting their heads at the same time. "What Miku?"

"I just thought of something, you know how you two had a strong fan base that believed you should, you know 'be in a forbidden love relationship'."

They both nod, slightly uncomfortable.

"Well did you guys realize that technically you aren't related, in the Vocaloid world or this one?"

They froze. Being related in the Vocaloid world was what they knew, it was who they were…or at least had been.

But in this world there were no blood ties, nothing that made them the twins they were supposed to be.

Len looked at Rin the same time Rin looked at Len, their eyes almost searching the others.

Then they both looked at me, confused. "Does that me we're not the same?"

I felt…sad by their pitiful expressions. Maybe I had just torn up some roots that I shouldn't have touched.

"No, you guys are definitely the same. I'm just saying, are you going to continue with you two being twins story?"

The others looked up, curious.

They didn't seem to know.

"We've already told the majority of the people we've met so far, there's no point in changing it now."

I nodded; it did make sense that way.

Later that evening when we were getting ready for bed I told Gumi we got the jobs and she squealed with joy.

"Yes! Now we can get our singing lessons sooner."

I giggle as I climb into my pajamas, a blue camisole and blue shorts. "I know! I can't wait."

"Do you think it will be hard to learn?"

I snuggle under my blanket. "I hope not."

Gumi sighs. "It's too bad we have to start from scratch."

"Hm," I nod in agreement. "I just hope this job goes over well."

"We're both use to sing in front of hundreds of people, I think we'll be fine."

"I didn't see any of those people though." I whisper as I try to remember, but what is there to remember besides what was programmed in my database? I never felt, I never saw, and never heard…at least, not until I started outsmarting the program. I could hear the crowds and my songs; I could see Luka and the others. But I still never really felt.

I rolled onto my side, passing my goodnights to Gumi as I stared at the wall.

I wonder if that's why when it comes to Hinata I'd rather just ignore it. I don't want to strengthen something that feels so light and happy on one end but can easily turn on to painful the next.

I wondered what that emotion was called. Like…crush?

Those were some odd names for an emotion.

Crush.

Like.

Hinata-kun…why did you have to like blue too?

* * *

The next day I drank a glass of orange juice early in the morning, took another one of those amazing showers (they were soooo relaxing) and joked with Gumi about how all the boys would flirt with her at Daruma.

Flirting was something we already knew about, but we didn't understand how it worked.

I pulled at my hair in the mirror, the long cerulean stands sliding through my fingers as my eyes a few shades lighter blinked at me with their own inner light. I pulled on of my hands away from my hair to run a finger over soft lips a light color of pink. I touched my black eyelashes heavily framing my large eyes.

My face was petite and sweet, cute and enchanting in its own way. I smiled, watching how it affected my expression. It softened my eyes and a light flush rose to my cheeks.

It was so amazing.

I thought about the other girls working at Daruma, it looked as though most of them worn their hair in a bun with something wrapped over it, although one girl had worn pigtails, but then again, she had had really short hair.

So for now I just slapped it up into another ponytail, lighting swinging my head side to side to feel my bangs slide across my forehead before fixing them up as I headed out the bathroom where Gumi stood pulling a yellow blouse on over a green laced bra.

She was hyped.

"I feel all tingling inside, it's so…nerve…wracking?"

I nod, I was pretty sure that was the correct term.

"We're nervous." Which was super exciting.

We headed downstairs after we finished getting ready and find Tamaki waiting for us. He takes us in his smaller vehicle and drives us early in the morning to Daruma.

When we get there Okami-san greets us and takes us to the back, showing us how they operate and taking us to the changing room.

We change into simple kimonos with her help and our hair is wrapped up into small, elegant buns.

I stepped outside the dressing room in excitement, my zorro shoes tapping on the wooden floors.

As I turn to go to get the things I needed to serve people I run into someone.

We both stumble back, our balance hardly keeping us up in these clothes.

I catch myself on the wall and she does the same.

We both look up at the same time, my cerulean eyes locking with her bright pink eyes. She had strawberry blond hair with strands of her bangs framing her face while the rest was pulled back into a bun and stood tall and…very prettily.

Her eyes suddenly narrow, "So you're Miku."

I looked at her, confused. "I am. Who are you?"

She stands up, flickering her head to the side to brush her long bangs aside. "I'm Fujukawa Mana, Hinata's girlfriend."

My eyes widened almost as if glass had been shattered in my face.


	8. Chapter 8

She marches up to me, her eyes burning into mine, "Don't you dare think you'll be able to take him away from me."

"I-I didn't." I stutter, never have I been confronted with such venom. Not that I could've been in the first place.

"Don't lie to me, you practically almost had him to begin with, I saw his eyes light up when I brought you up."

"I…I…" I flushed a little, pleased with this new information but then quickly shake my head to dislodge any more thoughts. "I don't like him. We're not even friends. Maybe he wouldn't light up for other girls so much if you'd be a little more trusting."

Where did that come from?

Well either way, it didn't seem to please this Mana girl at all. "Watch it." She snapped before giving me one last cold glare and zooming down the hallway.

Well…that didn't seem to have rolled over well. What was the word for what I just got…a…a…foe? Enemy?

Or were those the same things?

I couldn't remember from the things I looked up in the dictionary.

All I seemed to really know was that I didn't feel as enthused anymore, which was disappointing for me. My first job already looked a little downcast.

I leaned against the wall and waited for Gumi to come out, it was better to face this new job with then without her. When she walked outside she was grinning from ear to ear but when she saw me she frowned.

"What's wrong Miku?"

I shook my head. I didn't know if I should tell her this, or even how I would tell her this if I did.

Gumi reached over to ruffle up my bangs a bit in comfort; I smile weakly up at her through my eyelashes.

"Don't let it get you down too much; we have so much to be happy about now. Why bother wasting it?" Wise words that Gumi could comprehend only because she had experienced them, we could all comprehend it and she was right, why should I let Mana get to me? I told Hinata I was not friends with him anymore, which was good enough right? Mana could go…could go…what's that phase again?

I couldn't remember. Gumi headed out ahead of me and I trailed her, sticking close as we gathered notepads that Okami-san told us to get. Okami-san then gestured to certain parts of the restaurant.

I would cover tables 5-8 on Fridays through Sundays, and on week days I would cover tables 1-5 with Mana. I grimaced and Okami-san noticed.

Her brown eyes crinkled a little in worry. "Is something wrong?" She frowned as she folded her hands into her kimono. I looked around at the tables, wringing my hands together.

"Do I have to cover those tables with Fujukawa?"

"Is something wrong with Fujukawa-san?"

"She doesn't seem to like me that much," I look sheepishly back at Okami-san who looks genuinely surprised at this.

"Fujukawa-san is one of the friendliest girls I have ever known."

Really? You could've surprised me there.

Okami-san reaches over and pats my shoulder, "I'm sure you'll be fine. Now one last thing, don't try to move around too quickly in those shoes and kimonos. I can tell by your posture both of you have never wore one before and we don't need you falling." Okami-san then sent us off with a smile and Gumi took 1-5 with Mana and I took 5-8 with some other girl. Tables 9-12 were taken by two other girls as well.

I set to work with ease, taking people's orders and bringing their food back on trays. They were friendly towards me and as far as I could tell they liked me.

Everyone here seemed to be pleasant in general and I came to the realization over the hours that I worked is that Okami-san was very popular around here.

I'm just glad I didn't have to have another encounter with Mana.

Gumi and I crashed on the couch, exhausted.

Luka looked up from the bar stool where she sat hunched over the computer.

"How was your guys' first day of work?"

"Exhausting,"

"I bet." Luka giggled under her breath.

Meiko came in, strolling around in a pair of black shorts and a white tank top where her red bra was clearly visible underneath. She frowned, "You two should be happy your shifts aren't being moved so we have to work till 2 in the morning. It's like humans don't understand a good quality of sleep." Meiko arms moved with her frustration.

Luka rolled her eyes. "I told you, we'll just have to start taking naps."

Meiko grumbled the same words Luka said in a mocking tone. Meiko apparently didn't want to take naps.

I find myself laughing a little, how silly Meiko was.

Kaito walks in and looks at Meiko, "Um…" A slight blush rising to his cheeks, "Meiko…your shirt…"

Meiko glares at him, slightly bending over at the waist, "Do you think I care?" She straightens and heads into the kitchen, "Jeez, where is my sake?"

Luka grabbed it and handed it to her, Meiko smiled. "See, now Luka is a real friend."

"Actually I heard in my classes that you shouldn't let your friends be under the influence." Gakupo walks in with a manly grace that stuns me, "Of course, they only said that for driving."

Meiko laughed, "None of us have licenses, do you think I'm gonna start driving?"

"We are going to have to learn eventually, this house isn't exactly permanent." Kaito said.

Meiko just waved it off, "As long as Luka keeps 'Tamaki-san' on a leash we should be fine for a while. I don't feel like worrying about another expense."

Luka blushed, "Hey!"

The twins who were curled on the floor in front of the TV laughed. "It's true Luka, he definitely likes you."

Luka brushed her pink hair behind her ear, "Don't be silly guys, none of us even know what that emotion even feels like."

I felt my chest constrict for a moment and I looked up at Luka, "Do you think it would be painful?"

One of Luka's eyebrows rose and Meiko took a quick swig of her sake before lowering it and resting her free hand on her hip. "Don't be silly Miku, like, love…it's a joyous emotion. At least that's what the programs told us," She shook her head, "My point is I don't think those emotions would be the source of pain. Wouldn't it be more like rejection or…fear or something?"

Meiko tried to explain it, even though she didn't fully comprehend it herself. I understood it a little bit. But if like or love weren't the causes of pain then why did pain only come when you did like or love someone.

How much does it take to like a person, apparently not much? I started liking Hinata immediately after I really took a look at him, but love must be so much deeper. I wonder what it means.

"Don't try to explain something you don't understand." Gakupo lightly scolded her. Meiko stuck her tongue out at him.

"It's not my fault we were nothing more than robots not too long ago."

Gumi flushes, "We weren't robots!"

"Close enough." Meiko mutters under her breath.

"Guys," I start. "Don't talk about that, what would we do if Tamaki-san overheard us?"

We all fell silent to that, none of could imagine what Tamaki would or wouldn't do if he knew the truth. I didn't want to know.

We don't talk that much for the rest of the evening, bringing up our origins didn't seem to settle well today. I look blindly at the TV and feel time fly under my fingertips.

Day two of my job.

It peaceful and I don't have to work with Mana just yet. I came to the conclusion that either I could hurry up a healing process between us or she would move on by herself when she realized that Hinata and I didn't have that kind of relationship.

Of course, that had been my plan. Until Hinata himself ruined it.

He came in without me even noticing and didn't even sit in my section.

It wasn't until I hear Mana shout his name, "Hinata!"

I froze where I stood at the drinks, unable to decide if I should acknowledge him myself or ignore his existence completely. What did people who were friends who were not friends do?

Jeez, this was difficult. Why couldn't I have been born human? At least he didn't sit in my section, which would've lit an unnecessary fire.

Unfortunately though, I knew that Hinata had noticed me. I could feel his eyes trained on my back. Or were those Mana's hateful eyes? I could hear her chattering away cheerfully, I didn't think she was even looking at me right now.

Hinata! Pay attention to your girlfriend.

I just need to keep my distance, just stay away.

I headed to the back, near the restrooms when someone grabbed my wrist. I turn around with wide eyes to see Gumi.

I place a hand on my heart, trying to catch my breath, "You scared me."

Gumi's eyebrows rose. "I was going to ask you if you were done with those drinks, people need those and I need to make my own."

"Oh right." I took a deep breath, I couldn't neglect my job because I was worried Hinata would step forward and Mana would hate me even more. Luckily enough, Hinata didn't bother me at all during work. Strangely though, he was there my whole entire shift.

Mana stepped in the back with Gumi to get changed and Hinata stood at the door with his hands shoved in his pockets as I cleaned off the last of my tables plates, glancing out the window and at the clear black sky. It was a better view from the town houses, in this city I couldn't see the stars or moon at all.

With a resigned sigh (ignoring Hinata) I started to walk to the back when Hinata followed, taking off some of the plates from my pile, "Let me help you with that."

I tried not to look at him, even as my heart raced in my chest. Why? Why couldn't he leave me alone?

Well, that wasn't a completely fair accusation. He had left me alone for a little while, but now…Hinata…don't you know that because of you your girlfriend hates me.

I look at him with hard eyes, "That's not necessary."

"But it is." He completely gives me the cold shoulder and I bite my bottom lip as he walks in front of me. These emotions were not any fun.

We walk to the sinks and I dump the dishes in, Hinata doing the same. I start to walk away when he grabs me by the elbow.

"Listen Miku-chan, I don't know what you're trying to accomplish but I want an explanation."

"It's Hatsune-chan to you," I whisper coldly, pulling my elbow away. "And I just don't want to be friends with you. It's not that hard to understand."

"But why! We were perfectly happy not only moments before."

I grimace. He straightens his shoulders. "It is because of Mana?"

I look away.

"Look, Mana is a nice girl. She doesn't mind if I have you as a friend."

That's what you think. "It seems you don't know your girlfriend that well."

"Excuse me?"

I shake my head and look at him with a pained expression, "Look Hin…Keimaru-kun, I don't need to be caught up in something like this. Please…please…just leave me alone."

I turn and walk away, and this time he lets me.

I wish my heart wouldn't feel so heavy, I wish I couldn't feel his eyes on my back.

Why did he even want to be friends with me?

As I walked into the changing room and started undressing a part of me hoped that Hinata wouldn't listen to my cold words, while a more reasonable part told me it was best if he did.

* * *

**thank you for the reviews on the last chapter. I'm glad you understand Mana's presence. :) Please continue reviewing and try to excuse any mistakes**


	9. Chapter 9

Weeks pass and everything falls into a steady pace, like a routine. Of course the others notice this and they don't like the idea of doing the same thing every day (not that I do either) so every now and then we'll mix it up. Tamaki-san has taken us to the park and a small zoo, I tried leeks and they weren't that bad but I didn't understand why my program was made to love them. I preferred the whipped cream. Kaito liked the ice cream cone more than the ice cream and well, Meiko was pretty true to her sake desires. But occasionally she would be completely calm and happy, pulling us around to see new things before stopping and trying to shrug it off and be cool. It always brought a smile to my face.

Except for at night, when I felt this strange hollowness in my chest. I believed it was because of Hinata…he didn't talk to me anymore, not even a small glance and occasionally I saw him walking with Mana, smiling and happy.

It hurt.

It hurt so much.

Yet I dealt with it, what else could I do? Hinata wasn't mine, why should I want to be with him? Tamaki said the feelings die off with time, but how long that takes is up to the individual person.

I usually do a good job in not thinking about him, but humans' thoughts were strange. They always seemed to think of the things they could never have.

* * *

"Eeeee," Rin squealed, "You got enough?"

Gumi and I were smiling ear to ear with the money gathered on the floor in front of us, Rin and Len sitting on the other side with wide, curious eyes.

"Yes!" Gumi clapped her hands together and put them both against her cheek, "Now we can afford singing lessons."

I jumped onto my feet, swinging a fist into the air, "Score! I can't wait!" Many many hours of work had finally paid off.

Tamaki stands at the door, shaking his head, "It's only enough for a few lessons."

"That's enough for us." I smiled; all we needed to do was get our voices back on track. I didn't think it would take that long.

Luka and Meiko had gotten enough money a few weeks ago but they decided to save up longer for more important things. Gakupo and Kaito had not yet reached the amount they needed.

"So when do we start?" Or how do we start?

Tamaki smiled, "Calm down, school is starting in a week. I think you four should worry about school supplies instead."

I frowned at Tamaki, pulling at my pigtail. "But didn't you say that you'd pay for our school Tamaki-san."

"I agreed to pay for your entrance and your uniforms. That's it."

Gumi pouted, "Why are you so cruel Tamaki-san?"

"I'm not your mother. I don't see why I should supply everything for you."

"But you have enough money to. It's not like paying for school supplies is gonna be a big loss for you."

Tamaki shrugged, "You never know."

"Are you saying to waste all the money we earned?"

Tamaki snapped a glare at me. "You're not 'wasting' your money. You're getting things you need. There's a difference between the things you want and the things you need. The things you need have to come before the things you want. What do you think Luka and Meiko are doing? Going on shopping sprees? No, they go out and buy groceries or things for the bathrooms and new clothes for weather changes that I strangely had to explain to them…" Tamaki shook his head, "That's not the point, Meiko does go about to buy sake too but not as often as one may think.

"Tamaki-san!" Luka's voice snaps behind Tamaki as guilt weighs heavily on my shoulders. Why was life so difficult?

She pushes aside Tamaki with a sharp glare, her pink hair a swirl around her shoulders in her high ponytail, bangs framing her forehead.

"Don't you dare listen to him," Luka looks back at us with her hands on her hips, "It's not your job to keep track of those things. I had it all explained to me at work and it's the adults job to take care of life while they let the kids live a carefree life while they can. I do not want you spending money on anything but the things you want right now. Don't let Tamaki-san pressure you into helping us, he even said so himself that it's the mother who buys the stuff you need. So as far as I'm concerned both Meiko and I are your mothers."

Tamaki's eyebrow rose, "You can't have two mothers."

Luka threw a glare at him, "I don't wanna hear it."

Tamaki looked away with a grim expression.

I had never seen him deny Luka of anything and I sometimes wondered if he experienced the same pain I did. Although I didn't really understand how he could, it wasn't like Luka was unreachable to him. He just wasn't acting upon his emotions.

If those were the emotions that he had, Luka looks back at us with a softening expression. "Please, spend that money on your lessons. I'll take care of your school supplies and your uniforms."

"Are…are you sure?" Gumi was hesitating and so was I, what if Luka and Meiko needed the help.

"Please don't fuss over it. You have no choice but to go pay for those lessons. Tamaki-san, I trust you can take them."

"Tomorrow, I have a meeting starting in an hour." And with that he turned on his heel and walked away. Luka sighed as she watched him, leaning against the door sill before looking back at us.

"Do you like him?" Rin asked curiously.

"Like…what is like?"

"I think it has to do with looks." Len bemused and Rin attacked him, pulling at his cheeks, "That is so self-centered!" She fought.

Len wiggled in her arms and eventually pulled her off, both of them laughing.

Luka smiled half-heartedly at me, "I'm sure…" I pause, "What it feels like…will makes itself known to you."

Luka smiled at my response, "Most likely."

I found a small smile tugging at the corner of my lips, forcibly forgetting any subjects relating to 'likes', "Sooo," I smile a bit brighter, "Two mothers?"

"Well," Luka smiled wryly, "More like two sisters. Mothers are way more responsible than Mieko." She laughed a little, "And mothers breast feed their kids."

"They breast feed?" I tilt my head to the side in confusion.

"What's that?" Gumi leaned forward curiously.

"They feed their babies from here." Luka pointed to one of her large breasts.

We all gape in shock, but Len grins. "Babies know best."

Rin smacked him upside his head.

"How do they do that?" Gumi looks a mix between horrified and fascinated.

I felt my own hands land on my chest, as if shielding them from the possible strange future presented before them.

Luka shrugged, "I have no idea. I just know that mothers do this because one lady was complaining that she didn't wanna breast feed when the baby was teething."

"What's teething?" I asked.

"Well it obviously has something to do with teeth." Rin crossed her arms as I lower mine to my sides.

Luka shrugged again.

Len looks up at Luka with a desire to know more in his eyes, "What else did you learn?"

Luka walked into the room and sat down on the floor, folding her legs to the side.

"Well apparently there's this whole other level of physical contact…."

* * *

We all (besides Luka) walked out of that room flushed with embarrassment. On one hand I had learned a lot of helpful information that would get by school without seeming completely clueless, and yet on the other hand the things I imaged would forever be burned into my memories.

I had already known about kisses, that was something installed in my program. As well as the concept of cuddling…but…but…I clasped my hands over my burning cheeks.

Well at least I knew that I should only let someone special do those things to me, that it wasn't something to give out freely. My body was sacred and should only be allowed to be touched by others if I myself allowed it.

That was really helpful information; many people could've gotten away with many things if I had been left unknown to this.

Kisses were apparently a big deal in this world too, let alone the other things. Especially the first kiss, Luka said she swore people worshiped this concept that the first is the most precious.

I couldn't bring myself to feel an attachment to my 'first' kiss though; just having someone that close in general for a kiss was enough to sizzle this new body of mine. Technically I had already had my first kiss, but I had only been a program and could not feel those emotions so I decided it didn't count.

What if…what if Hinata kissed me?

I shook my head wildly, no no no no. I felt that similar pang in my chest again, why couldn't I just stop thinking about him! I didn't want to be plagued with such desirable thoughts; it was enough to drive me insane. Maybe I would go swimming for a bit and cool down, that sounded like a good idea.

So after lunch I went swimming, floating on the top of the water as I stared up at the sun, my celadon colored hair floating around me. I stared up at the sun burning down on my skin, squinting my eyes so my eyelashes filtered out the bright rays of light.

I lifted a hand, listening to the water move as water rolled down my arm and I looked at my tanning arm. My fingers flexed and I let out a sigh.

What I was capable of left me speechless still, this body was so amazing. Why could I never possess such feelings before? Was this really even me? Was I a completely new person? Did I even belong to the name Hatsune Miku anymore?

The questions rolled in my head as I made a fist and slammed it down into the water, causing it to ricochet around me, splashing on my face and body.

Who was I?

My program matched some of the personality I held now, but with people like Luka it was completely different.

Luka wasn't quiet and thoughtful with a constant sincere expression. That was Gumi who was supposed to have been more energetic.

Yet Meiko was much closer to her programs design then any of us, drinking sake with an easy burnt fuse.

At this moment I found myself aching to sing, to bury my worries in the beauty of twinkling music and have the lyrics wash over who I am now. But once I sung I would remember I was a completely new person and be troubled by these things all over again.

I stood up in the pool and wadded over the edge, folding my arms on the hot concrete and resting my chin on my arms.

I needed something to relieve this stress, but what?

A part of my brain (the uncontrollable part) thought about Hinata.

It thought about his smile and his kindness. Why did he want to be friends with me? Why was he so kind…it must be his personality.

I wonder what he does at school. There is only one school around here, besides the private one on the other side of the town, meaning that he probably would go to the same school as me.

Would I be able to completely avoid him there?

I let out a sigh, why did I even bother thinking about it. I told myself to stop thinking about him but it seemed this was unavoidable.

I pulled myself up over the edge, the concrete turning brown with the water as I sat on the edge, warming up my skin where it met the concrete and swayed my legs lightly back and forth. Well, school was starting soon enough, and tomorrow I had singing lessons.

As long as I avoided Hinata and had fun I would be alright…right?

* * *

**I have a website for this fanfic on facebook , just search for the title and you'll find it. Please review and stuff!**


	10. Chapter 10

I stepped out of the car, my foot landing on the burning cobalt that I could almost feel engulfing my feet strapped in thin flip flops.

In front of us was a simple peach colored building with a black roof and windows stuffed with musical instruments. There were glass doors that led into the building; a giant logo called Music's Liftings slanted over in cursive above the door. Gumi and I took a deep breath; the money we needed stashed away with Tamaki who stepped out with us, already striding toward the door.

"What are you two waiting for, do you want these lessons or not?"

Gumi and I glanced at each other with hurried expressions before jogging up to Tamaki's side.

My hair was down today and it was heavy on my neck and back, sweat dripping down my skin. At least I had worn some jean shorts and a simple flowing tank white tank top splashed with light designs of many colors. Gumi wore a pink skirt and a light red shirt with a boat neck. Her hair was short though, so I'm sure she wasn't sweating nearly as bad as I was.

I hurried to the glass doors and pushed them open ahead of everyone else, grateful for the breeze of cold air from the A.C. that hit like a tidal wave.

I stepped onto polished wood, surrounded by a large black piano to my far left with violins hanging on the walls and on the other side were guitars and drums, then another building attached to that filled with even more instruments. Straight to the back of the building was a large mahogany desk with a crisp lady standing behind it. On that wall, a little to her left was a curtained area that was labeled Lessons over top.

Well I could tell where we would be heading.

I waited for Gumi and Tamaki, holding the door open as they walked inside before we walked up to the crisp lady and she looked up with a pale face, large brown eyes, and elegant brown hair falling from a bun. She had a soft nose and gentle lips and she wore a white blouse with a black tight skirt.

"May I help you?" Her voice had a rough husky tone, it was amazing.

Tamaki seemed a little stunned himself and I wondered if he had been as stunned by her beauty as I was. Did those thoughts distract him from Luka?

…Wait a minute…did this mean…

"Yes, these two would like to start singing lessons today. I hope that's not a problem." Tamaki spoke with smooth authority. I snapped out from my thoughts as I looked at the woman for an answer.

"What is your name sir?"

"Tamaki Shio."

"Tamaki," The lady pushed a clipboard towards him, "If you could sign down their names and give me the required payment I can start their lessons as soon as possible."

Tamaki wrote down our names and gave her the money; she took it with ease and smiled at Gumi and me.

"Is it alright if I address you both by your first names, I see that your last names are the same."

We both nodded, almost in awe by her presence.

She walked to the curtained area and pulled back the curtain, "Just keep walking down this hallway until you see the singing room, once you walk in there your lessons can begin."

We walked past the curtains, almost a little nervous by the new environment.

There was a narrow hallway with a dark red carpet and light brown wooden walls. Gumi and I stepped a bit hesitantly down the hallway, the curtain falling to a close behind us.

As we walked down the hallway we passed many doors with many labels on the door itself usually as a gold label. It was farther down the hallway before we found the singing lessons door and when we opened it up we froze in shock.

How was all this in the building? It was almost like a small stage area with a wooden stage, large red curtains pulled to the side and even pews for the seats.

On the stage stood a man, tall and lanky, blond hair and violet eyes.

He smiled at us, "You must be a new appointment," He sounded beyond joyed and raised a hand dramatically in the air, "Come my young pupils to the world called music." His eyes glittered as he stared off into the space above our head, like he was actually looking at a different world of music.

Gumi and I glanced strangely at each other before looking back at the man, still posed theatrically. What a weird character he was.

We stepped forward together, rounding to the side of the stage after we passed all the pews and stepped up onto the stage.

I looked out at the rows and felt my vision flash quickly with the memory my program held, people screaming and jumping in the ecstasy of the music. The wood of the stage felt hollow under my feet, my limps carrying myself confidently over to the now normal standing man as I found myself in awe that I had performed on stages like this, in front of thousands of people, and I hadn't even been real.

"You two look confident on the stage," The man moved his hand dramatically to flip his blond bangs, "Now we need to see," Wilder arm movements, "If you can sing."

"You, the cutie with the blue hair, go first. Cutie with the green hair, come with me."

He jumped off the stage and helped Gumi off the side and sat her down politely with gentlemanly movements as he left her to stand in between the first rows of the pews.

"Line up with me Blue,"

"My name is Hatsune Miku."

"I will address you by your name when I feel you deserve it."

That's when I saw it. This man took this job very seriously; he was so deeply moved by the arts of singing and took it to extreme ideals.

This was the kind of music teacher I needed.

I felt a confident smile glint on my lips and a flash of life that hadn't shown before now made itself known. The voice I felt tingled under my skin like nothing I had ever experienced now that my spirit was riled. It was almost like visible electricity.

"I'll sing Lovey Dovey by T-ara." It was a song I had grown to like after I heard it on the radio in Tamaki's car.

He nodded.

I closed my eyes for a moment, letting the beat of the song become everything in my head before I opened my eyes. I swung my hips to the side and opened my mouth, the lyrics twinkling out of my mouth effortlessly and put forth all the energy I could muster as I put forth everything into my voice, moving to my own beat, my hair fluttering left and right.

When I finished I was exhausted and I know my voice had failed to keep up with the speed. I tried not to let my tiredness show.

The man was practically glowing, "That was amazing!" He clasped his cheeks girlishly. "Of course there are a few things we still need to work on, but nonetheless, have you done this before?"

"Something similar," I panted.

"Alright, I have a good feeling. Green, you're up."

Gumi walked gracefully up to the stage as I took a seat on the pew and I saw it in her too, her shy personality was all but gone when she was one the saw, her eyes were lit with a green fire, her body ready.

She was just like me.

That really shouldn't have been a surprise though.

"I will sing Say Huh by 4 minutes."

"You can sing English?"

"Only a little."

That's right; Gumi had been able to sing English as a Vocaloid too.

"Well that's good, since there isn't much English in this song, but still enough that I'm impressed this is the song you present."

Gumi smiled and closed her eyes as she did the same thing as me, letting the beat fill her head and when she opened her eyes they seemed to flash this neon green. It was so fast though I had assumed that it was a trick of the light.

She opened her mouth and her slightly more mature rang out that was relaxing and seemed to be tinged with what gave a fantasy kinda feel. With this song her voice pulled you in with a rough cut to her words and a bit of English rap, she swung her hips to the side and turned the head the opposite way.

She looked…well…sexy. And I felt extremely embarrassed for thinking in such a way. But it was the kind of allure she wanted with this song and she nailed it. Of course her voice would falter too and I could see sweat drip down her neck but just like me she ruthlessly continued.

When she was down she stumbled a little to the side, losing her overpowering aura.

"And what was your name?"

Gumi blushed, "Hatsune Gumi."

The man was stunned altogether now; he couldn't even act weird anymore. "I have never heard two girls with such talent, like a ripe fruit."

Okay, so he could still be a little weird.

"Miku and Gumi, welcome to my class. I am Kyoya, and that is all you need to know. Your voices are almost at perfection and the fact you can dance while singing is all the better, it takes twice the energy but bumps up the performance just as much. You two only need a little nudge in the right direction and you just might become the biggest stars yet. Do you two plan on going solo or as a group?"

"Well there are others who can sing like us."

"Why aren't they here?"

"They don't have the money."

"I don't care; I want them here next time. You got that?"

We both nodded. "I can fix you guys up quickly, you'll only need one or two lessons, let's start now."

And the rest of the hours of our lesson were consumed as Kyoya straightened our postures and taught us how to hold our notes, how to reach the impossible without cracking, and easier ways to converse energy.

By the end of the lesson my whole body was aching.

"Almost there, almost there," Kyoya was ecstatic; apparently we were the greatest things since he had been born.

I leaned against Gumi as he chattered on, "I can't wait to meet the others. Tell me, are you guys forming a band?"

"Something like that."

"Do you already have a name?"

"Yes."

"What is it?"

Gumi smiled gently, "That's a secret."

Kyoya pouted but he seemed to understand. "Alright then, I hope your future to stardom goes well, but I afraid this is the end of the lesson. I have other pupils to guide to the light." He swung out a leg as if it made him more superior.

Gumi and I ran out in a fit of giggles as we left the room and headed outside. A few minutes later Tamaki pulled up and we climbed into the car. "How did your lessons go?"

"Apparently they were out of this world." I quoted Kyoya and Gumi giggled softly. Tamaki didn't even bother to ask as we drove off.

When we got home everyone was all over us and we explained the events, the tingle, the amazing feeling it was to professionally sing again. On the stage I had once stood before but had never felt.

And not only that, but I had realized something else.

Tamaki had been temporarily distracted by the desk lady, possibly making him completely forget about the attraction he held for Luka. That obviously meant one thing, that if I found someone else; I could permanently distract myself from Hinata.

* * *

**I'm back and happy to post! I'm pretty excited on where this story is going, and I wasn't planning on describing the singing lessons but it just spilled from my fingertips! How awesome is that!**

**Please Review :)**


	11. Chapter 11

I pulled up my dark blue colored dress that ended mid-thigh and had thin spaghetti straps, then pulled a white halter top with short sleeves and a small breast pocket that I could never actually put anything in and on, my right sleeve had a blue logo of the school emblem. It varied colored depending on which year you were in this school. It was apparent that first-years got the color blue. Gumi's was a beige color.

I then slipped on my black knee high socks and slid my feet into fancy black shoes. I blinked as I looked into the bathroom mirror, my blue eyes alive with energy. It might be an ungodly hour, but school finally started today. I tied up my cerulean blue hair into my signature pigtails and splashed a dash on clear lip gloss that left a gleam on my lips.

Today was going to be so exciting!

I looked over at Gumi who was ruffling up her bangs a little, her green eyes staring intently at the mirror.

Rin burst in, jumping up and down happily in a blue pleated skirt, a white polo shirt and a tan sweater vest with no sleeves pulled over top. And instead of a bow in her hair she wore a simple white hair band with the same old clips in her hair; I doubt she could get rid of those.

"It's safe, Len!" She called and Len stepped up behind her. She must've been checking to make sure neither of us were still changing so Len could walk in.

Len was looking rather manly this morning, his bangs were tousled to sweep across his forehead with a boyish charm and his hair which was slightly longer then Rin's was free of its usual short ponytail and waved down in layers around his neck and dripping just above his collarbone. He wore blue pants and a white polo shirt without the sweater vest.

"You two look stunning this morning."

Rin giggled as Len shrugged, tiredness still clinging lazily to his green eyes. "I could use more sleep." He complained.

Rin put her hands on her hips, "But it's our first school experience! Aren't you excited?"

He yawned, both of his eyes closing for a moment and when he opened them his eyes were a little watery, an after effect.

"I'm more nervous actually, what if we don't fit in with them. We've never done something this before, who says we won't screw it up."

Rin frowned and knocked the back of Len's head with the palm of her hand, "Don't be such a pansy."

If there was one thing that was different between the twins, it was that Len could be more realistic as Tamaki had called it; Rin just argued and said he was pessimistic.

Len shouted in defense, "I'm not a pansy!"

Rin just stuck out her tongue.

Gumi giggled softly, "Oh stop it you two," Gumi touched her stomach, "I feel a little nervous too, right in here." She pointed to her stomach, "It's so odd."

We nodded into agreement, why did the stomach feel emotions too?

Well besides that, it wasn't really something I was worried about. Today I was looking for someone else to like!

This was the start of a new…something…what was it called again?

I shrugged and fixed up a few more things in my appearance before we headed to the kitchen where Luka stood, handing out brown eggs and shriveled up black bacon with a sweet smile, "I hope you guys enjoy breakfast."

"Luka…you made us breakfast." Rin poked her bacon and it collapsed into burnt ash.

Luka blushed, "Meiko was sleeping and I figured I'd give her a break, her and Gakupo are always making the meals. I wanted to try."

"Well it's worth a shot." Gumi was positive as usual and dug her fork into the eggs and shoved them in her mouth. She started chewing when she suddenly stopped, her skin paling, sweat breaking out on the surface of her face. She took slow, measured bites before swallowing and I watched a shudder run down her skin.

"Isn't it delicious?"

Luka bit into an extra piece of bacon, the crunching making me flinch.

Gumi stood up, brushing her plate aside, "I'm not that hungry, that one bite was so filling." She patted her stomach as she struggled with a smile.

Tamaki suddenly walked upstairs, "Are you guys ready? You're gonna be late."

And we were all saved.

"Oh then we better get going!" I jumped out of my seat, "Thanks for the food Luka."

"But-," The rest of her words faded out and the twins zoomed at of the room in front of Gumi and I, who I offered a shoulder to help her walk with. Apparently it wasn't only Luka's cooking skills were off, it was her taste buds.

We all piled in the larger car before Tamaki got down all the stairs.

"Gumi, are you alright?"

She was still a bit pale, "Next time…we have to wake up Meiko."

We all nodded in agreement, the thought of seeing Luka's cooking again made chills run down my spine.

Tamaki climbed into the driver seat, dropping our school bags and these square packages in our laps.

"Luka said you guys forgot these."

"What are they?"

"Bentos," He started the car.

We froze, "Who made them?"

"I think she said Meiko made them, last night."

Oh thank you, at least we would be able to eat lunch. Tamaki then pulled up to the big house next to ours. Hinata's house.

"What are we doing here?" I panicked.

"Well I offered Hinata's mom, since I'm taking you guys I might as well take Keimaru."

Gumi was in the passenger seat, the twins in the middle and I sat in the back. There was an empty seat beside the twins, but there were two extra seats beside me. Who would bother sitting where two others sat when you could have more space in the back!

Oh no…this was not what I needed so early in the morning, not on my first day of school. I sighed; the worst part was how happy I was.

I saw Hinata step out of his house, clad in khakis and a white dress shirt.

His tousled blond hair brushed across his eyes in the wind, his green eyes sleepy as he let out a yawn, tucking his school bag under his arm. The closer he got the more my heart raced.

He opened the door and didn't even take in the possible seat besides the twins and climbed into the back, but he didn't look at me either. As soon as he sat down and buckled up he looked out the window.

Ow…there it was again. I placed a hand over my heart and pressed down, hoping it would stop the pain that made itself known with every heartbeat. I turned and looked at the opposite window. I shouldn't be in so much pain, I had asked for this. He was only doing what I told him.

I slouched against the seat, so much for finding someone new right away. Hinata was far too fresh in my mind. I'd have to force myself on someone at this point and that didn't seem like a good idea.

The drive to school was way too long for comfort and I hoped that he wasn't taking Hinata to school every day, but from what Tamaki said as we stepped out it didn't seem likely.

"I'll give you a ride tomorrow too Keimaru."

He nodded as Tamaki pulled away and I stopped on the edge of the sidewalk, looking up in awe at the school. A real school, this close to my face.

I didn't even notice Hinata look at me, but I did hear Mana's voice.

"Hinata."

I couldn't fully appreciate this large school with them so close, so I ducked my head and hurried away inside, my bento and my school bag in hand. I walked into the locker room and tucked away my shoes and changed into another pair, then looked for my room number that Tamaki told me I had.

Away from Hinata I could now concentrate on the wooden floors and the classrooms, the white walls and signs that let me know which classrooms were which.

It was amazing and I quickly found my classroom, I was in room 1-D.

As I opened the door to walk inside I bumped into someone's chest, almost falling back but stopped as an arm wrapped around my waist and held me up.

I looked up with wide eyes to meet eyes the color of the midnight sky lit up by a full moon, black hair falling over his forehead in more of a lazy fashion then Hinata's tousled look. His skin was the same tan color and his eyes seemed just as kind.

I stumbled away, bowing, "Um, thank you." Well this was awkward, I know I said I wanted to find someone else and it looked like I was forcing myself on them anyway. Not the way I planned it in my head.

I looked up shyly through my eyelashes and he smiled, "It's nothing, don't need you falling onto the floor shrimp."

I straightened with a glare, he was even the same height as Hinata, but at least he didn't call me shrimp.

"My name is Hatsune Miku." I glared.

"And my name is Isao Renji, don't wear it out." He winked and walked out of the room. I puffed up my shoulders, he might have kind eyes but he put himself off as cocky and I couldn't help my stick my tongue out at his back.

With a superior hmph I turned away and walked into the room, taking the seat in the back next to the window.

So far school was not what I had expected.

I put my bento inside the desk and my school bag by my feet before resting my elbow on the top and placing my cheek in the palm of my hand, glancing out the window at the rising sun. Well…at least it was still pretty. Humans might be weird, but nature made up for that.

I paused, taping my finger on my cheek, why did I still think of them as humans as if I wasn't myself. I was now, so I should be thinking of them as people. I guess having been a program, I still don't feel entirely human, or at least, as human as these people around me are.

Suddenly a girl with short brown hair that bobbed around her shoulders and bangs swept to one side held by two yellow clips walked over, smiling.

"Hello, my name is Ibuki Kasumi."

She seemed friendly enough, "My name is Hatsune Miku."

"You must be new around here, I haven't seen you before and there's only one school around here."

I nod, pulling at my pigtail, "Yes, I got here last month."

"Well I hope we can be good friends Hatsune-chan."

I smiled, "Me too."

She waved and headed to her seat in the front of the classroom. I watched the people file in and was beyond grateful I didn't have a class with either Mana or Hinata. This classroom was my safe haven.

That is, until Isao plopped down in the seat next to me.

"Hey shrimp."

I decided not to let him get to me. If I was going to find someone to distract me from Hinata it was going to be someone besides him.

"Do you have to sit next to me?"

"I sat here before you came in the classroom; I think I should be asking if you have to sit next to me." He teased; it was obvious to see that every seat in the room was taken now.

I exhaled through my nose, any retort I could have come up with cut off by the sound of the bell and a teacher walking through the door.

The teacher was a slight woman with large amber eyes and light red hair.

"Good morning everyone, I'm your…" And her voice droned out from my ears. For my first day of school I should probably be attentive and listening but my curiosity had me all over the place.

The teacher was taking care of roll call, shouting out student's names, catching my attention in surprise that this was how teachers kept track of students.

"Hatsune Miku."

"Here," I call out a bit hesitantly, only repeating what I heard the other students say in reply.

She scribbled something down and looked up, sliding frameless glasses on, "Hatsune, I was told by your guardian that you have been home schooled your whole life?"

I just nodded, despite the fact I had no idea what she was talking about.

"Well I hope these students can make you're experience of a public school enjoyable." She sent out a sharp glare at the students, making sure they got the message.

And with that she let us do whatever for a while, at least until homeroom was over.

Isao leaned over, "Home schooled huh? Interesting."

The girl in front of my turned in her seat to look back at me too, she had pretty pink hair running down her shoulders and soft pink eyes. "Is high school scary for you?"

"Not especially,"

The girl diagonal of my desk turned a little too. She had light blue hair that darkened at the tips and covered one side of her face with dark brown eyes, "Your hair is awesome."

I blushed, realizing that she probably said that because we both had blue hair. I felt warm with all these people being so kind to me and a little overwhelmed as I beamed a smile, maybe school was better than the first impression I got of it. Even sitting next to Isao didn't seem as bad anymore.

* * *

**^^ I hope you like Miku's first day of school so far. Please review!**


	12. Chapter 12

Later that day Ibuki Kasumi took me up to the roof for lunch where we sat down near the side, "Soooo it looks like Isao has taken a kinder side to you."

I snorted, "Yea whatever, I doubt that."

"No seriously."

I sighed; it was like hearing Tamaki saying Hinata liked me all over again. "I still don't believe it."

"You're way pretty Hatsune-chan, any boy would fall for you instantly."

And yet I only wanted one.

I opened my bento and gladly dug into something edible.

Lunch passed by quickly and it was in gym where I saw Hinata again.

He was across the field and paying no attention to me, but that wasn't what really drew my attention to him, it was Isao standing right next to him. Both of them were laughing at some joke and it struck me there that they were friends. Isao looked over and saw me, he grinned and started waving. Hinata started to turn his head as a blush crept up on my cheeks and I bowed my head, quickly walking away from that situation.

Ignoring them I paid attention to gym class and caught on quickly to what had to be done. Running a lap, it didn't sound so hard, but I had never run a lap in my life.

I almost didn't make it to the end.

"Tomorrow is two laps!" The coach shouted before we started another activity and I tried to calm my breath. Next we were doing a game of soccer and it was a blast, when I ran the lap I got tired but when I was kicking that ball around, racing to the goal I felt like nothing could stop me.

I even managed to get one goal in that day.

And soon afterwards my first day of school was done.

I couldn't believe it.

It had been amazing.

I walked to my shoe locker and changed out the shoes when I heard some girls chattering behind me about joining the choir club. I turned quickly in their direction, my pigtails flying around me. "Did you say choir club? That's like a singing club right?"

The two girls were familiar; they were the pink haired girl and the blue haired girl from class.

"Hatsune-chan, are you interested in the choir club?"

I nod vigorously, "I love singing."

The blue haired girl studied me, "Well as long as you can sing I don't see what's wrong with you joining."

"And my sister?"

"You have a sister," The blue haired girl sounded surprised.

"We were adopted together,"

"You were adopted?" The pink haired girl gasped.

"Yes yes, but it wasn't a big deal. Um, I never got your guys names," I was tired of thinking of them as the blue haired girl and the pink haired girl.

The pink haired girl spoke first, "I guess we never introduced ourselves, huh? My name is Sakura Toudou."

"My name is Mizuki Ichinose."

"Ichinose-chan, Toudou-chan, how do I join the choir club?"

"They will be hanging up the club activities tomorrow by the front gate on the bulletin board. Just check there."

"Thank you!" I slipped on my shoes the rest of the way and put away my school shoes in my shoe locker before bowing goodbye to the girls and jogging off, humming _Lost You_ under my breath. As soon as I left the shoe lockers I ran into Isao who just stood there with a serious gaze and my humming stopped.

"Shrimp,"

"Isao-kun!" I narrowed my eyes, "My name is Hatsune Miku!"

"I heard that conversation with those two girls."

"You did?" I gasped, "Are you stalking me?" I had heard about it from Luka, she had experienced it from the bar and it's when a person is following you. And if they are following you they hear all your conversations and savor them like candy in their head. I hoped Isao wasn't savoring my conversation.

Isao laughed, almost as if he couldn't help it. "Isn't that a bit of a big conclusion to jump to?"

"I don't know." Was it?

"Well it is shrimp," He reached forward and ruffled my bangs. I jumped away a step, out of his arms reach. He sighed, "It's just that I heard you were adopted."

"And?"

"Well that must be pretty tough; if you ever need someone to talk to I'm willing to listen." He smiled, "That's all." He waved and walked away.

I watched him till I couldn't see him anymore as I attempted to sort through my emotions. Being adopted wasn't tough for me, I still didn't technically have parents…and I didn't have a hard time with this. For Isao I almost wished I did. Would I come across as emotionless if I didn't care?

But how could I care?

I inhaled deeply before exhaling through my mouth. I couldn't bring myself down by thinking about this and instead started walking to the front gate where Gumi was waiting. I ran up to her and a gentle smile from her greeted me. We couldn't walk home, and took the bus like Tamaki told us. We would have to after school since he didn't have to time to pick us up due to his job.

"How was your day, Gumi?"

"It was interesting, some people are very friendly and others completely ignore your existence."

I nodded, "I think that's to be expected though."

Gumi nodded in agreement as we sat in the back of the bus.

I heard something and looked up to see Hinata and Mana boarding the bus, Mana clinging to his arm.

I felt that pang in my heart again and shook my head, looking back at Gumi as a happier subject came across my head and I told Gumi about the choir club.

She was thrilled! "That's a great idea!"

I bounce a little in my seat because of the excitement when a sudden downcast expression crossed Gumi's face and she looked down at her hands folded up in her lap.

"What's wrong Gumi?" I leaned to the side a little to look up at her face, my pigtails raining down to the bus floor.

"What do you think happened to the other Vocaloids? Are we the only ones who get to experience a life like this?"

I froze. That thought had never crossed my mind before. It didn't seem fair though, when I thought about it, that we were the only ones who could experience this. But it wasn't like we knew how to travel back to our world and save all the Vocaloids. And what would happen to the Vocaloid program in our world if we did? Thousands of fans would be devastated if it was cancelled because all the Vocaloids were gone. How was the world over there coping without us? It had been a month here; did time pass the same over there?

I had a lot of questions and I knew I wasn't going to get any answers.

"I don't think anything happened to them. Even if they outsmart the program like we did don't they need Kaito's and Meiko's song to get here? The programmers will probably keep them from realizing that there is a life out there, even for us."

When I was a program, I didn't long for a life because I didn't know what it was. We left because we could, because we didn't want to lose the self-awareness we had gained by developing a conscious, not because we desired something greater.

Suddenly Gumi started singing to erase her worries just like I did. It was a familiar song we sung together in some boys made up concert. It had been lots of fun and I could still remember the dance moves.

I leaned back and joined her with a smile, erasing our worries together. I moved side to side a little and Gumi joined me. She pointed to me when it was my turn to sing then we would sing together. Our voice slowly got louder and louder till we were attracting the attention of the rest of the bus, and I loved it. When their eyes landed on me I felt ten times more alive, like the song was enhanced.

We started to get lost in the music, our hands moving in the memorized movements and we leaned against each other as we sung before pulling apart again. Gumi started clapping and our voices, perfectly in sync, ran over the crowd. The beat in our heads picked up before stopping completely and we stopped, breathing heavily as we slumped against each other again.

Someone started clapping, then another and another until the whole bus was clapping at our performance. It felt amazing.

I looked over to see Mana glaring at me and I cast a quick glance at Hinata and saw he had a cute, boyish smile on his face and his eyes were lit.

I blushed and looked over at Gumi, both of us giggling at the beautiful reaction that we could finally feel in this world.

I never wanted to become emotionless again; I wanted to feel the crowd's roars under my feet and the beauty of the music in my ears. I couldn't wait until the new Vocaloid was made.

* * *

We walked inside to see Luka and Tamaki watching a movie, Meiko folded up in a recliner with a bottle of sake in her lap.

Kaito and Gakupo weren't home, they must be at work.

Gumi and I walked over to them and they looked up at us.

"How was your first day?" Luka asked us both.

"It was good."

"Did you guys enjoy the bus ride?"

Gumi and I looked at each other, almost as sharing an inside joke within our smiles before looking back with a shrug. "It was alright." We said in unison.

I pulled at my long blue pigtail before I turned the questions to them, "How was your day."

"It was great; we should've got rid of you guys sooner." Meiko slurred, she was clearly drunk. It seemed she forgot that with our jobs and our singing lessons we were already gone a lot.

Luka shook her head, "Tamaki, would you mind helping me take her upstairs?"

Meiko pointed a rude finger at them, "I don't need your help to get anywhere."

Gumi gasped and I laughed.

Luka and Tamaki took Meiko upstairs and Gumi and I went up behind them to go study in our rooms for a while. It wasn't maybe thirty minutes later when Rin and Len came home and went to study in their room too.

We stayed like that 'till dinner time and we all gathered around the table and discussed what school was like and how it was meeting new people.

"I almost feel bad that I wasn't always human." I frowned.

"Why's that?"

"Apparently being adopted in this world is a big deal."

"Really?" Meiko was surprised since she had been the one to come up with the story (she had taken a nap and wasn't drunk anymore, just experiencing headache problems).

I nod, "This guy said I could talk to him about it but I don't have anything to talk about."

"Then don't talk about it." Kaito said. "He just meant if there was something to talk about and if you don't have anything, then it's nothing to worry about."

Kaito was right, I shouldn't worry about it. Isao was just being kind in case I needed to talk, but since I don't then that was that.

I dig into my spaghetti, made by Gakupo, and savored the taste. I wonder if the others know about Luka's cooking? They seemed to keep her away from the kitchen so maybe they did.

Rin leaned eagerly forward, "You know what's even better?"

"What?"

"Len and I finally raised up enough money for our own singing lessons!"

Gumi and I were overjoyed, more singers getting ready for our debut.

Luka and Meiko leaned forward, "We have enough for one or two lessons, but we actually want to join you." Meiko said as she winced at the light.

Luka smiled at me, "I miss singing with you guys."

Gakupo smiled and Kaito shrugged, "We sorta have enough, we just can't buy anything else if we do this now."

"We should!" I cheered, "We should all sing together again!" The notion made my eyes glassy with happiness.

It was all a rather sweet moment as we agreed that the next time we sung at our singing lessons, everyone would be there.

* * *

**I reposting all the chapters again fixed and awesome! And this is the new chapter! Review please!**


	13. Chapter 13

The next day (after another awkward silence with Hinata in the car) I grabbed Gumi's wrist and raced to the bulletin board before I had to listen to Mana's voice call out to Hinata. We found the board easily near the front gate and saw the sign ups. We both scouted out the paper for the choir club and I found it first, "Here it is!" Only a few members had signed up and I saw Ichinose and Toudou's stand out to my eye.

Gumi grabbed my sleeve and tugged on it, "What about this one?"

I leaned over and saw she was pointing to another singing club but it wasn't something like I knew the choir club would be, but more of a free style club, at least that's what I gathered from the name of the club.

I bit my lip while Gumi bit the inside of her cheek.

"Both sound like good singing clubs." Gumi muttered.

I had to agree with her there.

Ibuki suddenly jumped up beside me, linking her arm in mine. I look at her in shock; I couldn't remember someone doing that to me before.

"What club you joining?"

"We're stuck between the choir club and the singing club/freestyle." I tell her as Gumi just smiles shyly.

"I'd do the singing club, freestyle. The choir club is like a cult," She pulled out her arm from mine and crossed both of them to form an x in front of her chest. "Once you join there is no way out and they have the strictest rules."

"How do you know?" I asked.

Ibuki smiled, "My older sister is in the choir club. She joined it one year and hasn't been able to leave since. Some dark shiz goes down there." Ibuki shook her head and smiled at me, "Don't do it Hatsune-chan."

"Shiz?" Gumi whispered in my ear with a giggle, low enough that Ibuki wouldn't hear.

"I'll take your word for it." I trusted her; it wasn't like I had a reason not to. I pulled at my hair which was in a ponytail today a little nervously as I grabbed the pencil clipped on the top of the paper. I scribbled my name down and handed the pencil to Gumi as Ibuki leaned over near my shoulder. It was a bit odd having a friend like this.

After Gumi finished signing it Ibuki smiled, "We should probably all head to class now,"

That's right; we didn't all need to be late for the bell.

"Bye Gumi, see you after school."

"Bye." She bowed goodbye before hurrying off.

"Who was that?" Ibuki seemed thrilled by meeting a new person and I found myself smiling without reason.

"That was my sister, Gumi."

Ibuki laced her fingers together behind her back, her bag bouncing against her legs.

"You guys are so cute!"

We were made that way.

I smile sheepishly, "Thanks." I still took the compliment with a light heart as I tried to forget that I was programmed to look cute.

When I got into class and sat down next to Isao it looked like he was lost in thought. He was staring blankly at the whiteboard, his chin resting in the palm of his hand while his fingers tapped on his cheek.

"Isao-kun." I whispered tentatively.

His fingers stopped moving at the sound of my voice. He didn't turn his head but instead his midnight blue eye looked over at me. He looked like he was carrying a burden today.

"Is everything alright?"

Isao perked up at that, almost like he didn't want to seem down. "No no," He turned to look at me fully, "I just forgot to study last night."

Was that something to be so downcast about? I didn't know I needed to take studying that seriously.

I turn away from Isao and let him sulk over school work as I set up for the day. Toudou and Ichinose soon asking if I joined the choir club the minute they sat down in their seats.

"I decided not to, I saw that there was a freestyle singing club and that's more my thing."

The girls frowned; they didn't seem to appreciate the news. "Well whatever," Ichinose turned away from me and Toudou smiled a bit apologetically before turning in her seat to.

Suddenly I was glad Ibuki had given me the heads up on the choir club.

I buried my head in my books and let the day pass by on its own. Today we actually started learning things and it was a weird sensation, I had to think and concentrate to absorb the information instead of knowing everything about it already. Isao leaned over to help me occasionally because I was completely lost at some moments. It seemed that I was a bit weak learning English which truly wasn't a surprise. I was a Japanese based Vocaloid, the only English I would know would be what was programmed in my songs. Other than that it never had to come across for me.

I pressed my forehead against my desk. Great, why couldn't I have been programmed to be all knowledgeable?

Luckily I still had gym to take my mind off of things.

After the exhausting two laps and trying softball today (not something for me) the coach asked me to help this girl named Otonashi Kyoko to put up the folding mats up on a pile.

Otonashi was a pretty girl who had the lightest shade of lavender hair and cyan eyes. She was friendly and easy to get along with as we piled up the mats. She giggled at the boys still over on their side of the field, doing squats. Apparently they got in trouble for something and this was their punishment. I glanced over at Hinata, sweat rolling down his face.

I let out a painful sigh when I put too much force on the mat we were lifting up and knocked over some track fences on the other side as the corner had turned and bulged outward. We pulled it back quickly so it lined up again.

"I'll get that," I looked back over at Otonashi, "Can you handle this?" The mat was practically on top of it anyway.

"Don't be silly, I would like to think I can get the rest of this on top."

Well I was sure she could, but not without a bit of a struggle, these things were heavy.

I went to the other side with a light jog, the shadow of the mats hovering over me as I picked up the tracking fence. I hummed a bit as I lifted them up, making sure they were lined up nicely and was putting up the last one when I heard a shout. I couldn't tell what the shout was but when I turned around the mats were falling what seemed like in slow motion, right over me.

I lifted up my hands to stop it but they all crushed me, slamming me right back into the gates in a tangle of things on the floor. The back of my head bounced on the floor and the rest of me stung.

"Miku!" Hinata…was that his voice? I blinked, but these stupid gray dots kept blurring my vision like the first time when I was tired and wanted to fall asleep, but this was different. Not that I could see anything anyway under these mats. I tried to lift them but they didn't budge.

The mats started to move and I heard a panicked voice in the background, Otonashi.

"I'm so sorry, I just lost my footing."

She must've been pushing the rest of the mat up but tripped and jammed the mat in against the others, rubbing wrong and sliding them down to the other side. The mats might be heavy but it wouldn't be hard to move them with one's whole body weight.

I felt someone grabbed my arm and looked up to see dark eyes when they were suddenly gone, bright green eyes in their place.

"Miku? Miku?" A hand was touching my face.

I opened my mouth to respond but the spiraling pain in my head only made me wince before any words would come out. "It's alright." Even my voice hurt my head.

Warm arms slid under my shoulders and my knees, lifting me up off the ground. "Hinata-kun," I was in too much pain to try to correct myself, "Put me down." I feebly pushed against his chest.

"No." His voice left no room for argument as he stood up for himself, walking me to wherever. I closed my eyes and before I knew it the world was black.

* * *

When I woke up I was in the nurses room, I had passed by it once before on my first day. I looked beside me to see Hinata slouched back in a seat pulled up next to my bed. He wasn't looking at me though; his neck was craned back so he was staring straight up at the ceiling.

"Hinata-kun." I gave up on the whole last name business; I screwed up earlier so might as well call him by his first name. Besides, the pain in my head was slightly louder than my heart. I tried to move but immediately gave up on that.

Hinata scrambled in his seat, sliding it forward so his knees pressed against the side of the bed.

"Miku…" He wasn't even bothering with chan anymore. I don't know why I had bothered pushing him away; it didn't seem to have changed anything in the long run.

"What are you doing here?" I could see the sun was shining through the window behind me by the shadows on the wall. They had moved a decent amount since gym, was school over?

"I needed to make sure you were okay."

I ignored what that did to my heart, "Why does my head hurt?"

"The nurse said you have a concussion, nothing too severe. She said it should be completely gone by tomorrow morning but to take it easy today."

"Otonashi-chan?"

"Renji stayed with her to make her feel better, she was nothing but tears."

I frowned, "It was an accident."

Hinata tensed up, "She should've been more careful." Apparently he didn't seem to care that it had been an accident. But why did he care so much in the first place?

"Go back to Fujukawa,"

"Not until I know you'll be alright,"

I glared at him, my feelings of pain rolling up inside me. "Why! Why do you even care?" I shouted and winced, immediately regretting it as lances of pain spiked in my head. I was learning that I did not like what emotions and actual physical pain did to the body when they joined together.

Hinata's eyes widened at my outburst, "Because…because you're my friend."

I stared at him incredulously. Was all of this really just because I was his friend?

"…I pushed you away…"

Hinata gave me a weary smile, "That doesn't change a thing Miku, true friends stick together through thick and thin."

"How can you call me a true friend, we haven't even known each other that long."

Isao suddenly walked in with a strange expression on his face, one I couldn't place.

"That's just the kind of guy Hinata is. No matter how many times you tell him to go away he is stubbornly persistent on friendship being 'everlasting'." He air quoted the word everlasting as he smiled at his friend. Hinata smiled back up at him as Isao leaned against the wall, looking over at me.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like I just banged my head against the floor," I sunk into the pillows with a deep breath. "How's Otonashi-chan?"

"Better, ruined my gym shirt with her tears though."

"At least you finally got a pretty girl to cry on your shoulder." Hinata teased.

Isao rolled his eyes with a grin.

I felt that the friendship between these two really was everlasting, something no one could interfere with. It was beautiful to look at.

Hinata looked back over at me, "So what do you say Miku? Can we be friends?"

I felt my heart shudder, this seemed too painful and something I shouldn't even bother with. "Sure, we can be friends." But looking into those green eyes that seemed to look straight through me with warmth and kindness, I couldn't shake him off again. Hopefully Mana doesn't kill me.

Hinata's grin lit up like the sun, parting any gray clouds that might cover up its presence. "And don't be afraid of Mana, she really is a nice girl."

I smile weakly, just tired now. "If you say so."

Hinata stood up, his smile still on his face. "Well Tamaki is in the front office waiting for you. School ended about an hour ago."

"What!" This time I shot up and groaned. "Ow." That hurt.

Hinata rushed to my side while Isao stoically stared at us. "Do you need some help Miku?"

As much as I hated to admit it, maybe I did. Hinata wrapped an arm around my waist and I felt my heart take off like a bird trapped in a cage.

"Isao-kun, why are you still here if school ended an hour ago," I asked.

"I'm taking Hinata home, plus someone had to talk to your older sister. I thought she'd rip off my head."

"Who? Meiko?"

"No, I think she called herself Luka."

Luka was here? Thank goodness, being with Tamaki alone would have been so awkward.

Isao opened the door and we walked down the hallway at a slow pace. I hung my head so I didn't have to look at the ceiling lights burning into the back of my skull. One thing was for sure, I was never getting a concussion again.

When we got to the office Luka's shout sent my head reeling again and both Hinata and Isao shushed her. It was kinda of funny, to see Luka's flustered face as she was shut up by two teenage boys.

Tamaki was observing silently, his eyes locking in on Hinata's arm wrapped around my waist. I did my best not to blush, but it was difficult.

"Miku..." Luka whispered in a distraught voice as she pulled me from Hinata and rested me against her. She was warm and smelt of flowers and something that was just purely Luka. I closed my eyes and relaxed completely against her with a smile on her face as she asked the boys what had happened and if I was alright.

"Besides the concussion and a few scrapes, she got lucky, no broken bones or internal bleeding." Isao joked; Luka tightened her grasp around me as she panicking looked over at Tamaki.

"What's internal bleeding?" She hissed.

"It's where they bleed on the inside." Tamaki shook his head; he must be surprised that he still has to constantly keep explaining things to us.

"I know that," Luka frowned at him, "What does it do?"

Tamaki didn't seem to want to answer that and I patted her arm, "It's okay Luka, the important thing is that I'm fine."

Luka tense form relaxed under my words and she looked back up at the boys, "Miku is right. Thank you, for watching over my…little angel." She could've said sister, but that wouldn't have went together with the story. Yes I was from a 'foster home' but in our story Luka just happened to be there when we were kidnapped. Tamaki would've asked questions that could've been easy to answer but we were too lazy to. Plus Isao already thought she was my older sister, it wasn't like we had to fix that.

"Anytime…um…" Calling her Luka would have been disrespectful since they had just met her and she was their senior.

"Megurine Luka."

"Megurine-san," Both of the boys finished politely.

She nodded back to them before looking away, "Now, let's go home." She told Tamaki as she helped me walk out to the car. I looked gingerly behind me to see Hinata staring at me and he waved goodbye one last time when my eyes met his. I looked away with a blush and hoped that I could make this friendship thing really work out with Hinata.

* * *

**So I'm rereading my stuff and I have a beta now! I am doing my best to grow and help get rid of mistakes so if you see one please tell me so I can go in and fix it immediately. My beta and I are not perfect so we both may still miss things. Anywho, I found this to be a exciting chapter! I hope you guys liked it too, please review! **


	14. Chapter 14

The rest of the day Luka forced me to lie down all day and I fell in and out of naps. It was soothing actually, just to lie down and relax. Luka was over-reacting a bit as she constantly checked up on me every hour, but I couldn't find it to be angry at her. I would just smile, tell her I was fine and close my eyes again. Before I knew it I was waking up early into the next morning. Gumi was sleeping. I looked over at the clock on the floor and saw it was only five minutes before our alarm went off. I reached over and turned mine off since I obviously wasn't gonna need it this morning.

Feeling well rested I sat up slowly and rolled my neck to test out my head. The nurse had been right; there was no trace of the concussion at all. But the minute I woke up it was like a Luka radar went off and she was peeking through the door.

I smiled at her and waved, "Morning Luka."

"How are you feeling?"

"Great! The concussion is all gone!" Although as I moved more of my limbs I discovered that some of my muscles were still sore. I decided it would be best to keep that to myself.

Luka pursed her lips, "You should stay home today just in case."

Gumi woke up at the sound of our voices, rubbing the sleepiness out of her eyes. "But today is the first day of clubs; it would suck if Miku missed out on that." She yawned as she rolled over to turn off her alarm. It wasn't like she would need it either this morning.

Luka frowned, "Clubs are on Friday too."

"Yes, but the first day? You're going to pull Miku out of that when she's perfectly okay?"

Luka didn't like how this portrayed her, "Fine, but the minute your head hurts don't be afraid to call home."

"I won't." I smiled. Luka walked out of the room and I looked graciously over at Gumi, "Thanks."

She smiled tiredly at me, "Yup."

I smiled at Gumi's answer; she was so out of it in the mornings. She stretched as I threw back my covers and hopped to my feet, ignoring the sores I felt.

I went to the closet as Gumi sat up, "Miku." She called out with a sudden serious tone.

I turned half way to look at her, "Yes?"

"I realized something yesterday, when you got hurt." Gumi took a deep breath, "Now that we're human we're vulnerable too, we can get seriously injured, sick, anything…we can die now."

I froze as that knowledge really began to sink in, I didn't think about it yesterday because I had gotten lucky. But I could have been seriously injured; I could still be lying in bed in pain.

I took a deep breath, "Yeah, that's true. But what human doesn't get occasionally injured in their life time?"

Gumi frowned, "We just have to be careful, you know, not do anything stupid."

"Those mats falling on me were not something I could've avoided." I narrow my eyes at Gumi because it felt she was accusing me of doing something stupid.

"That's not what I'm saying," Gumi let out a breath, "I guess I'm just a bit scared."

I turn the rest of the way towards Gumi and walk over to her, getting down on my knees so we're face to face. I rest a hand on her shoulder and smile, "At least we have a life to live now. At least we can finally grow, feel, and die. It doesn't matter how we die or when because we have this chance to live now and we will cherish every moment of it." I don't know where I found the voice to speak these words, I just felt it in my…in my heart.

Gumi smiled wearily at me, "How could you possibly know something like that."

I shrugged, "We are so lucky Gumi; how could we not know?"

Gumi shrugged too, "Don't ask me." In her own silent way, she was agreeing with me. I stood up and walked back to the closet, "So let's just forget about yesterday and move on shall we."

Gumi rolled her eyes, "Yeah yeah." She giggled. We both pulled down our uniforms and got dressed. Luka came in a little later and asked if she could do my hair so we headed to the bathroom so I could look in the mirror while she worked.

She grabbed my long cerulean hair and started to do what she called an inverted braid that her friend at work taught her. She said it's achieved by braiding the 3 sections of hair under one another instead of over. It makes it exposed and adds a cooler look than the normal French-braid.

I just stopped listening to her at one point because I had no idea what she was talking about.

When she was done though I couldn't deny that it was rather pretty, my hair was thick and long so it created a rather princess look to it. I ruffled up my bangs a little and pulled at the sides that ended at the tip of my jaw with a smile.

Turning to Luka I gave her a hug, "Thanks, it's really pretty." It bounced on my back with my movement and I found myself enjoying the braid. When we walked outside of our rooms to the kitchen Gakupo was cooking this morning and Hinata was sitting at the island.

"You seem to be a really good cook, who taught you?" Hinata asked.

"The instructions." Gakupo answered almost absentmindedly.

I wanted to slam the palm of my hand on my forehead, I know I had agreed to being friends but that didn't mean he had to show up in Tamaki's house.

"Hinata-kun, what are you doing here?" I asked as I walked toward the island. He turned on the spinning bar stool chair and his eyes went wide. I paused in my walking, was I doing something wrong?

He suddenly blushed for a brief second before it was gone in the blink of an eye and he was scratching the back of his head with his hand.

"Well I was trying to make it easier on Tamaki-san so he didn't have to stop in front of my house and instead we all just go out together. Now that we're friends I figured it would be alright if I waited here."

But Hinata lived right next door, was it really that complicated to stop such a short distance away? I decided not to bother thinking about it; humans could be strange complex creatures.

Hinata stopped scratching his head as he suddenly locked a burning green gaze on me that made my heart stop for a breathtaking moment.

"How's your head?"

"Completely healed up." I smile reassuringly.

Hinata smiled in relief, "That's good."

Gakupo handed out three plates for us and looked around. "Where are Rin and Len?" He asked.

Gumi and I looked around, where were the twins?

Luka walked into the room, "They're down with Tamaki; they weren't hungry so they headed downstairs early."

"They shouldn't skip out on breakfast." Hinata said.

"Why not?" Gumi and I asked in unison.

Hinata looked over at us in surprise, "Because…don't you know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day."

This had all our eyebrows shooting up on our foreheads. "It is? Why?"

"Mmm uh, it gives you nutrients and stuff for the day."

"Nutrients?" Have we heard that term before?

"You know, like all the healthy stuff you need in your body can be given to you during breakfast." Hinata pursed his lips, "At least, I think that's right." He looked back at us, "How could you not know that?"

"We came from a circus that didn't really teach us anything." Luka collapsed on the couch as she spoke, turning on the TV.

"Oh yeah," He nodded, "I remember."

I wanted to laugh that people who actually believed that, it was a good thing Hinata wasn't in my class. It would be hard to explain why everyone thought I was homeschooled when Hinata believed I came from the circus.

Hinata turned to Gumi and I, "I'm guessing you two were singers. What you did on the bus was amazing."

Gumi just smiled while I blushed, my heart skipping a beat once more.

Luka looked over at Hinata, "We were all singers."

Hinata was awed by this, "What kind of circus did you guys perform in?"

"It was a multiple artistic field of performances," Gakupo made up the lies with ease. "It was sorta like a training circus to see what circus or performance you would end up in. But for us we wanted to see on our own terms, we didn't want to be trapped performing in a circus.

We didn't want to be trapped performing as a program…those words seemed to echo in my head and although Gakupo was lying, it felt like he was telling the truth, in a fogged up way. Of course at the time it didn't feel like we were trapped, we didn't feel anything so nothing bothered us. But now, it felt like I was trapped once, and I never wanted to go back.

"So you ran away and ended up here?"

"Basically."

Hinata leaned his cheek on the palm of his hand. "Well I'm glad you guys ended up here."

Hinata didn't look at me when he said that, so I had no proof that it was something meant for me but it still made my face heat up and I had to look away at the wall, placing a hand temporarily over my heart to control its frantic beat.

Calm down! Calm down! He has a girlfriend!

I took a few deep breaths and looked up to see Luka had been watching me with a panicked expression. "Are you all right Miku? Are you in pain?"

I let out a sigh of relief, good; she hadn't been able to tell that it was something else entirely. "No no, I'm good."

Luka relaxed but her eyes still watched me wearily.

We ate our breakfast quickly before walking downstairs to see Tamaki talking to the twins, "And that is how we feel things."

"Whoaaa," The twins seemed to be in awe over something Tamaki just said.

"What?" I asked curiously.

"Tamaki-san just explained the laws of physics to us!" Len was amazed.

"It was so cool! Tamaki-san is so smart!" Rin squealed.

Tamaki visibly basked in their praise, obviously trying not to show it. "All right you guys, we should head to your school now." He smiled. I rolled my eyes at Tamaki's silliness while we all headed out to the car. We folded into the car, already use to the routine and headed to school

When we pulled up I dared to wave good-bye to Hinata before scurrying off like the devil was on my tail. I was in my room and sitting down next to Isao before I knew it.

He looked more lost in thought today then usual but this time when I tried to speak to him he completely ignored me. I didn't understand this treatment and while it made my stomach clench with uncertainly I didn't really know what to do about it, so I decided I would leave Isao alone today. It seemed like he might just want to be alone today, that was natural human behavior sometimes.

I wrote down my notes and paid attention to my teachers and when I was stuck on something I was afraid to ask Isao for help and I was surrounded by two girls who weren't fans of me anymore either. This meant I would have to ask someone else, but who was the question. Ibuki might be willingly to help me.

At lunch I asked if she understood some of the English and she jumped to it, she was apparently very good at English.

"Did you stab Isao-kun or something?" Ibuki asked with her mouth full as she looked over some of the English words I struggled with.

"What do you mean?"

"I've never seen him like that before; he usually tries to be as friendly as his best friend Keimaru-kun."

"Not everyone can manage to be kind every day." I defend, not that I had any experience in this.

Ibuki nodded in agreement, "Still though, you should confront him about it."

"If he's still like this tomorrow I will." I tell her.

"Good plan," She swallows her food and continues to help me with English and it's hard to concentrate on anything besides Isao. I managed to fix my relationship with Hinata, but did I somehow ruin one in the process? He was talking to me yesterday…hmmm…maybe it was a man thing.

Shaking my head I did my best to forget about and did a pretty good job since afterwards at gym Otonashi was all over me.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes I'm fine."

"I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, it was just an accident."

Otonashi was relieved to see I was okay.

And not long after that it was the first day of clubs and I was so nervous the palms of my hands were sweating. I found Gumi on the way to the auditorium (this was the assigned room for this club) and when we stepped inside we realized it looked a lot like a concert stadium. A large stage, multiple lights on the ceilings, dark red curtains and seats stretching back across the room. Some people were sitting on the edge of the stage, strumming a guitar or some checking out the piano in the back. Others sat in the red velvet seats chatting or their faces stuck in the glow of their cellphones. Two people, a girl and a boy stood between the stage and the seats talking in hushed voices. Were they the people in charge?

My question was answered a second later.

Those two talking in hushed whispers looked up and looked around the room. A total of ten people had gather in the room, 12 counting Gumi and I.

"Please everyone, sit down in the seats."

The girl with the guitar and the rest of the people on the stage jumped down from the side and we filled up the front row.

The two stood there, evaluating us.

"Welcome to our club, it's called the singing club but we'd like to call it the club for musical talents of all types." The girl started, she had big honey colored eyes and dark earthy colored hair with a slender body and frameless glasses.

"Unfortunately the school said that was too long." He chuckled; the boy had bright orange hair and golden eyes.

"My name is Katsuta Ayano and this is Yoshinaga Atsuhiko and we welcome all of you to our club of musical enlightenment."

"We usually like to start out with you guys introducing yourself, just tell us your name and why you're here, a.k.a. what you do."

Gumi and I had sat down on the end, and he started on the other side so we would be going last. We both leaned forward curiously to see the girl folded up with her guitar sitting on the end.

She had brown hair that was purple underneath and cornflower blue eyes. "My name is Minetaka Karen and I play the guitar if you couldn't tell, I'm here to accomplish the dream we all want."

She pointed us out on all one equal floor; we were all here to complete a dream.

The next person was a guy, "Yusa Norio and I play the drums." This guys was had a sleek frame and looked like one of those techs with slick black hair and sly tawny eyes.

Next to him was a girl with a petite frame, curly blond hair that hugged her jaw and dark purple eyes the color you might see in a sunset. "My name is Murakami Shoko and I play the piano and occasionally sing, but I'm more into the instruments."

Next to her was an older girl who had a curvy figure, unruly red hair and brown eyes. "My name is Hasumi Ren and I sing."

Next to her was a boy who wore a hat that tilted over his eyes and blue hair, "My name is Okawa Kohsuke and I rap."

Next to him were three more boys, "We are a singing group and those two play instruments too," The boy next to Okawa said, he had long green hair and teal colored eyes. "My name is Chijiwa Sho and this guy," He pointed to the brown haired guy next to him, "Is Iwata Kazuki and the guy beside him is Yoshida Makoto." Yoshida had silver colored hair and gray eyes, he almost had an invisible appearance.

I realized that all their eyes had turned to me and it was my turn. I sat up and folded my hands in my lap, "My name is Hatsune Miku and I sing."

"And my name is Hatsune Gumi, I sing too and with Miku sometimes too, we're sorta a band but not a band."

That was the best way to describe the Vocaloids, sometimes we sung together and other times we sung solo. I was just surprised Gumi had bothered to explain all that; usually she was quieter around people she didn't know as well.

"All right then, shall we get started?"

* * *

**So this chapter was a Japanese name nightmare, although luckily I have extra supplies stuffed awhile with some names in there. Anyway, please review! **


	15. Chapter 15

"Okay then, first things first. Who would like to go up and show us what you got so we can evaluate what we're doing here?"

I raised my hand, grabbing Gumi's hand in the process. "So you two," Yoshinaga seemed pleased that we volunteered so quickly. The more energy the better in this kind of field I suppose.

Gumi leaned over to my ear as we stood up and started walking to the stairs on the sides of the stage. "What song are we going to sing?" She asked.

"Bad Apple," I whispered to her. Bad Apple was a popular fan-made song that the Vocaloids have sung too many times and as I skimmed through the lyrics I realized how much it spoke to me about how we were just programs in the end. I had been in many videos with this song and I remember one with just Gumi. I felt good with this song; I knew we'd get this right.

As we stood up on the stage I really wish we had a beat but we had to go without, it wasn't like we could ask for the song Bad Apple here, no one would know what we were talking about.

We both stood on the stage now, looking out at all the other kids. This would be our first time performing on a stage in front of anyone besides Kyoya.

We started without a command, lowering our chins to our chest and folding our hands behind our back as we spread our legs shoulder width apart. Our legs started to move, one after the other with a slight sway to our hips as our eyes closed with the beat resounding in our heads. We both looked up, opening our eyes and swung an arm out, then twirled the wrist with the next move before both of our arms rose in the air and we spun. We decided to skip the rest of the dance moves till the song started a picked up there otherwise we would just be dancing without a beat for a while and that might look as if we weren't going to sing at all.

_"Even within the midst of flowing time, Look, indifference still goes round and round. As for me, my heart has separated from me,"_ We sung in perfect harmony, the training with Kyoya really paying off as we danced with our words. I felt the electricity of performing and everything became a flow as the music took over my body.

_"Would this me exist in the future? Do I exist in this world? Am I oppressed now? Am I sad now? I still don't know anything about me. Even when walking, I'm just tired of it. So how would I care for other people if this me were to be able to change, if I were able to change, would I turn white?"_

My feet moved back and forth across the stage as my arms moved intricately with the beat. The song flew from my lips as the lyrics registered almost eerily in my mind. But I was too far in the music to really understand anything.

_"If I were to move, if I were to move, then I'd break everything, then I'd break everything."_ I moved like a robot as were the moves for the song, but it was still a bit disturbing.

_"If my emotional eyelids were to open, then I'd break everything. Let it all turn black."_

Gumi and I finished with panting breath, a trickle of sweat going down my back.

Everyone seemed to have a different expression but it was Katsuta who was gaping in awe. "That was such an amazing song; did you two write that and choreograph the moves?"

"Uhh," We looked at each other before smiling and looking back, "Sorta."

"It was good, you two are really good." She added while Yoshinaga told us we could sit down again. We slid off the side of the stage and sat down in the chairs. Next up was Minetaka, the girl with the guitar. She went up on the stage and sat down on the edge again before strumming a sad song beautiful from the guitar. Her eyes were closed most of the time as her fingers wove up and down on the strings, the effect she created for herself was calming and soothing; a nice side-effect after a big song that Gumi and I just performed. When she was done Katsuta was just as impressed.

The rest of the performances just kinda slid by with applauds and friendly feedback from Katsuta. I took notice to the boy band and found that they were actually really good. When we were all done Katsuta and Yoshinaga registered us all.

"You all seem to have talent, which is good for us. Basically this whole class we will start preparing for the cultural festival and what performances we will attribute this year. So for next clubs we will start making new songs and our own performances and try to be the best event!" Yoshinaga cheered us on with hopefulness.

I just nodded with agreement, what was the cultural festival again? Well I'm sure I'll find out soon enough. After that we got to chill, they said that the real stuff begins next club meeting and that this was just something to get us settled in and let them aware of who we were and our talents.

Sitting there I realized how many other people wanted to chance at being someone in this world, to let their music be heard by thousands of people. I never really had to fight for that, I was introduced into Vocaloid after Meiko and Kaito had been unsuccessful and I helped make the business boom up and after that many more Vocaloids were released.

I had been made aware of my fan base, it was something in my program. I knew that some people loved me, and some people didn't. It hadn't affected me because it's not like I told the people to love so much that some people hated me. I had been nothing but a program and even now as I sat in a bundle of real flesh, blood flowing under my skin and emotions swirling with the torrent of thoughts it still didn't bother me.

I was in a new world now, I wasn't known yet so I wasn't hated yet by thousands. Becoming famous, hate is to be expected, it was impossible to please everyone. I wondered if the others in this room knew that. I quietly reminded myself that even if people to come to hate me, it was the ones that loved me that mattered.

By the end of clubs we were walking out of the area with no buses in sight. Unfortunately it seemed that not every club started today and students still needed to be taken home. Gumi and I stood on the sidewalk, the sun lowering slowly in the sky. I could feel the heat beating down uncomfortably on my skin and I looked over at Gumi. "What now?"

"I don't know…did Tamaki-san say anything about picking us up?"

"No…plus he could still be working, our club was one of the few that stayed only an hour after today."

I pursed my lips, pulled at my braid, rubbed my foot against my ankle and then I remembered something Hinata said to me yesterday. Isao had given him a ride home…maybe…maybe Isao was doing the same thing for him today?

I looked over at Gumi, "We have to find Hinata-kun."

Gumi looked a bit curiously at me but didn't question it. "Do you think they still have the sign ups on the board?"

"Maybe," It seemed doubtful but it might be up for people who weren't here yesterday and needed to sign up today.

Luckily when we got there that seemed to be the case.

I scanned the board wildly, my eyes quickly looking for Hinata's name.

I froze when I found it right under Isao's, for the soccer club. I found myself smiling softly, how nice it must be to have a friend like that.

"He's in the soccer club." I looked over at Gumi and she looked over at me.

"Where is that?"

"Maybe the gym."

So we went to the gym but there were nobody in here. "Let's check outside." Gumi suggested and I gave a curt nod. It wasn't hard to find where the outdoor activities took place; all we had to do was walk diagonally across the gym and open the door that led to the 'outdoor' section of gym. There weren't near the track field, but I could hear them not too far off with shouts and the coach yelling.

We followed the noise and found simple silver bleachers that were small in size compares to other bleachers.

I froze when I saw strawberry hair lifting gently from a sitting figure on the bleachers, peacefully watching the game.

I was looking directly at Mana and found my muscles slowly relax as I gazed at her; a small smile was stretched out on her face and a look of tranquility in her pink eyes. She looked almost…kind…just like Hinata had constantly described her. But that's when she looked over at me and her calm gaze suddenly darkened, "What are you doing here?"

I found myself giving a quick bow, "Fujukawa-san, I uh…came to ask Hinata if he had a ride home."

"Of course he does, he doesn't need your help." She sneered.

"No, that's not why I wanted to ask."

"Then why?"

"Because I need a ride home." I said softly.

Mana froze in surprise for a brief moment before collecting her features. Her gaze was about to turn hateful again before I stepped in.

"Listen uh, Fujukawa-san, Hinata really cares about you. He tells me how much of a sweet girl you are and he really does only want to be a friend to me. Nothing more nothing less, I won't take him away from you." I bow again to show her that I mean nothing but peace.

After a few minutes of no response I lift up my chin to look at her to see she wasn't even looking at me anymore but instead out at the field, I straightened my stance and looked out too to see Hinata wearing a large grin as he pats Isao on the back, both of them truly enjoying themselves.

I found myself smiling too when Hinata suddenly looked up and noticed me. He broke into another large grin that reminded me of sunshine and waved at me. Isao looked up and saw me too, but he only looked back at Hinata.

I waved to Hinata with my own sincere smile; at least he wanted a hello from me.

"You don't seem to understand Hatsune-chan." I looked over at Mana in shock; it was the first time she had said my name. "Hinata likes you much more than a friend, he just doesn't realize it."

I feel uncertain about that, "Are you sure?" I really am skeptical of this.

"Yes. You haven't known each other long so it will take time for the feelings he has to develop."

This had to be some kind of joke.

"And until he realizes it I'll be doing my best to shower him in my love so he'll stay with me. But with you showing up so much in his life, I'll have to work much harder then I realized." She looked up at me, brushing some of her hair behind her ear with a sad smile, "So how 'bout it, love rivals?"

She was being so nice…it was so strange. "But I don't love him."

"Then this guarantees my victory huh." Even as she said it, I could hear her voice waver at the end though. Mana was proving to be more than just mean and cruel. She was proving to be kind, apologetic, and vulnerable. Why was she doing all this in front of me though?

"I don't understand why you're being so nice to me."

"Hinata scolded me today, to be nicer to you. I just want to show him that I'm that nice girl he tells everyone I am."

Gumi tilted her head, "So are you really not a nice girl?"

"I have many cruel thoughts I even get appalled at, but I think I can be that nice girl, for Hinata."

Something inside me sunk, my eyes widening as I looked at Mana. It had been so much easier to hate her because then it would be easy taking Hinata the way she always told me I would. But now…now that I felt something inside me open up to her…now that I saw her vulnerable…I would hate to be the reason her heart broke.

I didn't love Hinata; I didn't know what love was. I had a 'crush', I knew I liked him a lot; otherwise I wouldn't hurt sometimes in his presence. But surely that wasn't enough to take away Mana's happiness…was it?

Hinata suddenly ran over, interrupting my thoughts as he ran up between me and Mana. He turned to Mana and grabbed her hand before walking over to me with that same grin, sweat rolling down his temple.

"What are you and Hatsune doing here?"

"Oh uh," I looked over at Gumi who had stayed mostly silent but I'm sure observant of the conversation between Mana and I. "We sorta need a ride."

"Oh, that's right; Tamaki-san is at work isn't he."

Gumi and I nod in unison.

"Well that's fine with me, what about you Mana?"

Mana blushed sheepishly, "I don't want them to have to stay at school, it sucks here." She giggled.

My eyebrows furrowed, school didn't suck. And why was Mana acting so cute all the sudden? Hinata kissed her cheek, "Great. Looks like Renji is having a full car tonight." Hinata shouted the last sentence to Isao's back across the field and Isao didn't respond at all.

"Mmm, I wonder if he didn't hear me."

"He's probably ignoring you because you're an idiot." Mana teased playfully.

Hinata's chest buffed up, "Hey now! I'll have you know Renji loves me!"

Mana rolled her eyes and looked over at me, "Bromance." She drawled.

Bro…mance? What in the world was that?

Hinata laughed and gestured to the bleachers, "You guys can all just sit there till we're done practicing."

"All right."

So we all sat on the bleachers and watched them practice. It was interesting to see them play, they were far better than I was. Hinata was skilled in keeping the ball away and Isao had an amazing kick. On their own they were exceptional, together they were unbeatable. I was excited, watching them practice. It made me want to get up and move myself.

I was almost disappointed by the end of practice when Isao and Hinata walked back over. Mana jumped up and clung to his arm, "You did fantastic."

I wanted to say something, but I felt that it wasn't my place. Gumi walked silently next to me as we all headed out of the practice area to the front of the school where cars were lined up to take more of their kids home from clubs.

Isao walked toward a spacious van, a petite woman with black hair and midnight blue eyes inside. So that's where Isao got his looks from, it was my first time seeing a parent and their child together. I didn't realize how many similarities could have been drawn from them.  
For the first time, I wondered what my parents would've looked like if I ever had any. It was almost a bit depressing to know that I could never find out. Was this how an orphan felt? I didn't want to dwell on it and instead concentrated on the chatter enveloping me.

* * *

**So I didn't know Bad Apple was a fan-made song till my Beta told me but I kept it in there because their programs had been used to sing that song and I absolutely love Bad Apple. Plus if I got rid of it there would go a small chuck of my story. Oh and I have a very important question, are UTAUs purely fan-made as well? What goes into the process of creating a UTAU and so on. Please pm me the answers to this because it will determine whether or not I put UTAUs in my story as some of you have requested. **

**Thats all, please review with love :)**


	16. Chapter 16

A few days had passed since our first day of clubs and it was time for singing lessons again, this time we were all going together and I was very…jumpy about it. I didn't understand this feeling but Tamaki described it as overexcited. It was actually quite fun jumping and running about, tugging on Luka's hand as we pulled up to the music store.

Kyoya was happy to see Gumi and I. He constantly told us that we were his favorite pupils and gave us a group hug when he saw us for a brief second. We stood outside the curtain in the main part of the music store where Kyoya was introduced to the others.

After he was finished with that, he took a step back and evaluated us all. "So…all of you can sing?" He drawled in speculation.

Besides Gumi and me they all nodded.

"Even you little brats?" He gestured to Len and Rin.

Rin flustered under his words, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"We aren't that little." Len muttered.

"Well I won't believe it 'till I see it so let's head inside." Gumi and I followed closely behind Kyoya as we disappeared behind the curtain and walked to our practicing area. When we got inside Kyoya asked Gumi and I to sit down and relax, today he was training the newbies. I burst into a fit of giggles at this, it was funny imagining Gumi and I as more experienced, I might be 01, but I wasn't made first.

Gumi nudged me to calm down as Tamaki popped down in a seat a few rows behind us. He said he couldn't leave since we were all here but I figured he just wanted to hear Luka sing.

"Okay, I wanna hear the brats first." Kyoya said as he stood in the front of the aisle that separated the rows of seats.

"We aren't brats!" Rin trilled as Len patted her shoulder and walked up onto the stage with Rin stopping after him. "We're gonna knock your socks off!" A saying Rin had learned in school no doubt, although how such a saying was made I'll never know.

"What song are we doing, sis?"

"Our best one!" Rin shouted.

"So, Butterfly on Your Right Shoulder."

Rin gave a curt nod while grabbing the mic a little forcefully. Kyoya brought another mic to Len and stepped back, "If it's your best I expect the best."

My eyes widened, these two always practiced this song in their room and Len had the hardest time hitting his notes the way his program could, but with so much practice they had both had improved but to use this song instead of any others? Leave it to a flustered Rin to make risky decisions. Without the techno effects on Len's voice he would have to hold out those notes. I crossed both my fingers in hope for them.

Rin started swaying back and forth while Len hopped behind her and moved with her. It didn't have the same effect when we were programs but it still looked cool as Rin sang softly and suddenly Len popped out from behind them and both of their voices soared. I think Kyoya was a little surprised by the ferocity of their voices as they harmonized together. They must've practiced more then I realized.

"Resounding in my head, ooohhh ohhhhhhhhh."

Kyoya blinked, his eyes widening.

"A purple butterfly on your right shoulder, the corner of the room is where we kissed. I learned what it's like to feel pain, a piano echoes resounding in my head. Hurry, please, wake me up; I'm having a nightmare again. First impressions and things like that are only trivial, right?"

I think all of us were a bit stunned at how amazing they performed together. They voices were like puzzle pieces, fitting together so easily. They could both carry their notes and keep up with their dances. I never saw them perform this song, as a program I could only register that this was their song.

"Put on eyeliner and mascara to make your eyelashes longer, lip-gloss makes your lips shine…"

I felt myself move a little to the beat and their voices, I remembered that my program had been used to this song before. It almost sounded like this song was singing about incest by the way they looked at each sometimes but technically they were never related. The song also took a sad and kinda dark twist too, odd for such a catchy song.

"Won't you hold me tight 'cause only you can fill the hole in me. Is that what you said? How can I make you lose control? I want to die 'cause I have so many regrets, I always have more pain than pleasure. Please make it stop or I'll go crazy. I'm too far gone, please kill me now…"

As a program I had never understood the lyrics I had sung or others had sung and now that I had an understanding…wow.

And then just like that the song was over and both Rin and Len were panting at the end.

Kyoya scratched his head, "Well…" He moved his arms out from his head to his waist. "That was surprisingly good."

Rin stuck her tongue out as both Rin and Len basked in the praise.

"Who wants to go next?"

Gakupo walked up to the stage as the twins slid down the side to sit beside me.

"You are Kamui right?"

He nodded, "Yes."

"You kinda have a samurai look to you."

"I was born that way."

Kyoya nodded to that, "Well if you're successful you'll certainly make the ladies go crazy."

Gakupo gaze a boyish grin, his eyes ravishing under his long purple eyelashes. "I already do."

Meiko whispered something in Luka's ear and both of them snickered quietly over in the corner.

Kyoya had an impressed look on his face, satisfied with what was in front of him. "I suppose you already have a song to sing to."

"Yes."

"Well then start singing."

And then Gakupo opened his mouth and started to sing and I could feel all us girls melt a little in our seats as his words ran over us like velvet, deep and hypnotic as well as…well, hot I believe was the word. No girl could really deny that Gakupo did not look like a model and sound amazing.

"In order to gain tranquility, softly grasp my hand. I thought there was no need to tear off; I didn't commit the sins with my own hands. The wounds left behind on my cheek are the left over guided memories. I can't escape from the sadness anymore, my wishes and my words cannot reach you. Before long, those I see in my dreams will be swallowed by greed. Only my footsteps remained."

This song…I believe it was called Hades and Gakupo's voice hardly cracks at all and he could carry those notes so well. I realized that all of them must've been practicing recently, maybe just for this moment.

This song was depressing but it still managed to warm me by the way it sounded.

Gakupo didn't really dance but he didn't need to. I found myself giggling at my own thoughts.

"The faded life and the resounding screams, by the time I had noticed it was already too late. How far will you wander? Even now, the kindness my body feels is waiting in the sky…"

He sung so beautifully and when he was finished a gasp sounded from the back. We all turned to look to see that the desk lady (I couldn't remember her name) was standing there with bentos, her face flushed as she practically leaned against the door.

Gakupo looked at the woman straight in the eyes, "Are you alright? Why would they make a lovely woman carry all those lunch boxes?" Gakupo moved with grace off the stage and went to assist the desk lady who couldn't seem to speak.

Kyoya cleared his throat, "That was good Kamui, um, how about a female singer now."

Luka jumped to it with excitement. "I have a good song!"

I could hear Tamaki move forward in his seat.

"I'm sure you know the drill now."

Luka nodded and stepped close to the mic stand and bowed her head before looking up with a distraught face.

"At the intersection of dawn I walk down alone. I count the thing that I lost, I cry at the dream I can't reach. The bright days of boyhood are gone, dry reality pierces in front of my eyes. I want to let it all go, the pain in my chest. This mediocre me put my regrets on this song."

Why did Luka choose such a sad song? I expected her to pick Luka Luka Night Fever or something, but this…well…it did give a lot of more feel and depth to her always enchanting voice. I could hear Tamaki shift in his seat and I peeked back at him to see that he was awed.

I turned back to Luka to watch her sway softly to her sad song. I realized that the Vocaloid program had more sad songs then I could've comprehended at the time. I identified the song to be Sing for the Moment.

I closed my eyes with the rest of her song; it almost felt as if something inside me drifted away with the music in it's our illusion that the lyrics created and when I opened my eyes when she finished it was gone.

"I'll go next." Meiko was already up and ready to sing before Kyoya could clear his throat to speak about Luka's singing and Luka was already off the stage as well.

"Okay." Kyoya trailed off as Meiko grabbed the mic and began to sing in that soft yet strong mature voice that one really wouldn't expect when they lived with her and knew her by the personality she had developed in this world. Gakupo passed out the bentos while Meiko sung the song Silent Snow and stunned Kyoya into another round of silence. He couldn't believe that it seemed we all could actually sing.

Meiko's voice was very calming to listen too; it was like the girl version of Gakupo without the overwhelming pheromones.

I opened my bento and Rin asked for my leeks, I gave them to her happily before paying attention to Meiko again. As I listened to her voice, so realistic and soothing I actually felt something prickling along my skin and looked down to see little mountains had risen up and down where my arm hairs were. What were those called? I pretty sure I had heard it before…goose bumps?

"…There's not a single soul left upon these crystal roads, now I'm left behind and all alone. There's only the heart of mine seeking you with plaintive cries. So many days had slipped away, to have them again I never may. How I pretend to take no heed of the truth in front of me…"

Why were we so depressing though?

Meiko finished on a soft note and Kaito marched up to the stage as Meiko asked if there was any sake in those lunches while she climbed down.

Kyoya sat down, "Can you sing a happier song please?"

Kaito titled his head up for a moment as he thought and then looked down, "Yes, but it's a duet."

"I don't care." Kyoya pride was either bruised or fluttering. Either way he couldn't seem to handle it.

"Miku, will you sing Magnet with me?"

"Why me," I smile lightheartedly as I set my lunch aside.

"For all the Kaito and Miku fans."

He extended his hand down over the side of the stage and I grabbed it, letting him pull me up so I stood beside him and whispered, "We don't have those anymore."

"Nonsense, as long as we exist there will always be people shipping us together." Kaito teased. Since he didn't hold those kinds of feelings for me and I didn't hold them for him either (obviously) now these couple songs were just for fun.

I snickered and gave him a silly grin, "If that's the case I've been shipped with everyone at least once." Even Luka.

Kaito laughed, "That's true." Kaito glanced at Meiko for a second, an almost endearing gaze and I wondered for a moment that maybe one ship was becoming something in this world. He probably didn't pick her because she had already sung and she might have flat out refused him.

With that we both grabbed a mic and I started the song.

"A feeble fire is lit at the edge of my heart; without my knowing, it spreads into burning passion. My butterfly flapped about aimlessly, leaving behind some powder on your hand." Kaito then took over.

"Pulling apart out intertwined fingers, moving from our lips to our tongues, what we're doing might be unforgivable, and that's precisely why we're so fired up."

Then we both joined together, "I want you to embrace me closely and gauge my limit. Please make me believe that this is not a sin. I want you to kiss me and repaint my body. I want to be intoxicated and drown in your charm."

I felt my cheeks heat up a little just because these lyrics were embarrassing to sing, either though I had done it thousands of times. I stopped singing and Kaito took over again and I looked over to him with a smile, watching his now flawless voice caress the words he sang. It was so nice to have the digital undertone gone because now the real beauty of our songs could be heard so much better.

I joined Kaito again and we reached toward each other to intertwine our fingers at one point before moving back, my feet crossing back and forward in front of each other before it was just my turn to sing again and both of us join together again. Kaito was a very good singer and although he didn't hold the same charm as Gakupo he did have a sweet sound that could just as easily lure in females.

I ended the song with a soft tune and both of us stood there smiling while my cheeks stayed a bit pink. How could they not? That song was embarrassing!

"Well…" Kyoya cleared his throat, "That…that wasn't depressing."

Gakupo chuckled.

"So you guys proved it. I've never seen such a large talented group living all together before they even became famous. Although I do have one question, how do you guys have all these songs that only you sing to? Do you write them yourselves?"

We all just froze for a moment before Meiko dug into her food. "We wrote them in our free time. Gakupo wrote Magnet though."

Gakupo looked up with a confused gaze but we all understood why she said Gakupo wrote that song. It was believable.

"Is that what you sang to the ladies at night, Kamui?"

Gakupo winked at the desk lady who still hadn't left," Maybe."

The desk lady went red from her toes that I could see in her black high heels to her hair line. It was pretty funny. Kaito jumped off the stage and hurried to Meiko, "Was I good?"

"Of course," She furrowed her eyebrows as she looked up ta Kaito, "Why would you ask me that?" Their eyes locked and I saw Meiko's gaze soften into more confusion at the soft expression Kaito was giving her. But in the blink of an eye his expression was gone and he was grinning.

"Because I want you to pay for my ice cream,"

Meiko snorted, recovering quickly from her confusion, "Yeah, whatever!"

We all giggled as Kyoya shook his head, "Well you guys seem to have practiced so just like Gumi and Miku were you guys are half-way to perfection. Come in again and I'll make sure you guys become the international sensations you want to be."

We all looked up at Kyoya with smiles, "Okay!"

* * *

**So usually now after my Beta checks my chapter I reread it encase I wanna add something or edit or just making sure I didn't write like an idiot but its late and I'm tired so eh to that. I've been at band camp for the past week and two days or whatever and that's why this chapter took awhile. I hope this chapter was worth your patients!**

**Please review with love :)**


	17. Chapter 17

It was another Monday and I was humming Musunde Hiraite Rasetsu To Mukuro under my breath as I sat in the car, tapping my feet up and down with the beat. My long pigtails wobbled back and forth as I tilted my head ever so slightly.

"What are you singing today?"

"Just a song I made up." I lied with a smile as I looked at Hinata who sat beside me in the car as usual.

"I heard you're really good in your club."

"Everyone is really good."

He nodded, "Touché. So Miku, I have a question."

"Yes?"

"Mana and I are going to the amusement park this weekend, do you want to come?"

An amusement park! I actually knew about that! That had been installed into my program just in case our projects were used in one and I couldn't imagine how much fun it would be in real life! But… "Won't I just be a third wheel?"

Mana let me hang out with Hinata and her occasionally, especially at work when Hinata came to pick up Mana. At school though, when I hung out with them, Ibuki told me that I looked like a third wheel and explained to me what that was and it wasn't cool or something like that. I didn't know why it mattered but I did know that I didn't like how Ibuki categorized and judged people. She wasn't a very good friend. I preferred Kyoko.

"Mana told me the same thing so why not have Isao come?"

I frowned. Isao still wasn't talking to me and whenever I tried to confront him about it he told me he had to go do something else. I couldn't imagine why Isao was acting this way, had I done something wrong?

"All right, I'll go."

No sooner than that as I was walking in the hallways with Kyoko and I told her about Hinata's request, watching her lips purse, "Sounds like a double date."

A double date, I also already knew about these. "But I'm not dating Isao-kun."

"True but just be careful, you don't want Isao getting the wrong image."

My eyes widened as I realized what she meant.

"Oh. I wouldn't worry about it," I sighed, "I don't think Isao-kun likes me at all."

"Like not even as a friend."

I shook my head sadly, "I don't know what I did."

"Well it seemed like Isao-kun liked you."

"It did?"

She nodded, "He was the first one to run up to you when those mats crashed on you with Keimaru-kun on his heels, he looked at you but moved aside for Keimaru-kun and he had a pained expression. At least…that's how I would describe it. Keimaru-kun and him are best friends so when Isao-kun saw how much Keimaru-kun cared about you he stepped aside. But that doesn't make much sense either." She muttered the last sentence but I wasn't really listening anyway because what she said made sense as well as irritated me. I didn't want to believe Hinata cared about me as much as Mana said or as much as the others around me noticed. It wasn't real until Hinata himself knew.

But what she said about Isao…maybe…maybe he had grown a soft spot for me and closed it for Hinata. Why would he do that though? Because he thought Hinata liked me? Hinata was dating Mana! Did no one else realize this?

I pulled at my pig-tail, "I'll try to talk to Isao-kun this weekend."

"What! Really?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Wouldn't you feel embarrassed confronting him about him liking you?"

"That's not what I want to talk to him about; I just want us to be the friends we were when school started."

Kyoko pursed her lips again, something she did often. "I don't see how much harm that could do. But I do feel bad for Isao-kun, being friend-zoned."

"Friend-zoned?" I raised an eyebrow.

"I'll explain it later; we just need to get to class." We parted ways and school begun as usual. Everyone within two feet of me completely ignored my existence. That was fine with me though, this way I could learn without distractions. Although English was still a bit picky with me and that's why I still ate with Ibuki because she was very smart at English, I just made sure Kyoko joined us so I didn't feel so out of place next to Ibuki.

Gym flew by afterwards and so did the rest of the week, I found myself mainly anticipating this weekend without being able to concentrate on much of anything else. I didn't know if that was a bad thing or not but I didn't really think about it either.

On Friday Luka was staring at me uncomfortably as she rushed around getting ready for work and when she passed by in the living room she'd give me a cold stare.

"Is something wrong Luka?" I finally asked after about the millionth time she entered the living room to stare at me. Luka paused in her walk and clasped her hands tightly against her leather clad thighs.

"You're going out to the amusement park tomorrow."

"Yes."

"Do you have anything cute to wear?"

"Um I think so."

"Because I bought you this," She ran into the kitchen and bent down to open a cabinet, pulling out a mauve colored shopping bag and gently lifting out a cute dress. It was a strapless white dress with a black ribbon hemming the top that held it firmly over my chest. The waist curved in sweetly where the bottom so caved in a little where it then frilled out with a short amount of intricate white lace. Along the top of the lace a small black ribbon was placed, making it look almost like the ribbons connected the hem of the dress to the lace and in-between each of the black ribbons was a smaller coral colored ribbon that was hard to notice at first.

"Look, it even came with these cute shoes!" She pulled out wedge coral pink heels that reminded me of flats if it didn't have the wedge. The top of the shoe had black ribbons attached to wrap around my ankle too.

"Is that a bit too much?"

"Of course not," Luka pulled out a cute coral, zip up sweater, "Just in case you wanted to calm the outfit down and look 'modest'." She bowed deeply with the dress before standing up and snickering.

I unfold my legs from the couch and walk over to Luka, pulling at the dress. It was made of simple cotton and the ribbon probably was satin or something. It was really cute and pretty. But would Mana appreciate me wearing something like this? She might think I'm trying to steal Hinata.

I looked up at Luka who was giving me puppy eyes. "If I let you do my hair will you at least make it lazy and laidback? So it doesn't look like too much?"

"Absolutely!" Luka jumped up in excitement. Now she wasn't the only one who had the jitters for tomorrow.

* * *

It was tomorrow and I woke up early in anticipation and went out to eat some cereal for breakfast before my feet padded back to my room to hop into the shower. The cold tile of the shower in the morning made me squeal and bit and then quickly clasp my hands over my mouth as the water warmed.

I hope I didn't wake anyone up.

I brushed back my hair from my face as I tilted my head up in the gentle patter of the water, my hair sticking to the back of my neck and raining down in straight strands down my back to my knees when it was wet. I washed my long hair and then scrubbed my body with the body washed that was scented to smell like tropical rain-forests.

I watched as the bubbles piled up on my skin and threw some at the shower wall, giggling as I gathered all my hair and flipped it forward before swinging back, my hair leaving a long wet trail on the ceiling above me.

After fooling around a bit more I finally turned off the water, my skin dripping as I grabbed a blue towel hanging just outside on a circle holder attached to the wall and dried off my hair first and then my skin. I had discovered that even if I dried my skin first that my wet hair would make it seem like nothing ever happened. So after I finished drying off I wrapped the towel on top of my head, shorter strands of cerulean blue hair sticking out of what Kaito call the 'ice cream top'. It made sense when I really looked at it.

I grabbed my pink panties and slid into a strapless white bra before pulling on my dress. I ruffled out the bottom a bit before turning at certain angles to get a good look. It fitted my figure very nicely and made me look well…adorable. I blushed a little in the mirror before turning away and shuffling out of the bathroom with a bowed head to the walk in closet.

It was there were I pulled down the coral colored zip up sweatshirt and dug around for some actual flats. I liked the shoes that Luka picked out but I felt that the shoes were unnecessary, plus Hinata told me that there would be a lot of walking and to wear comfortable shoes.

So I pulled out my white flats that still went with the dress quite nicely.

I slid on my sweatshirt and pushed the sleeves up to my elbows as I grabbed my shoes by the heels in one hand before heading out of the walk in closet and closing the door quietly. I turned silently to see Gumi still snuggled in her sheets, her wavy green hair pooling out softly around her as an open palm rested beside her cheek.

She looked so peaceful in her sleep, but at the same time it made me think of the time when it had been like we had always been asleep and unable to feel. Of course, sleeping in this world was better and dreams could always color the nights so that was a plus.

Before walking out I walked back to the bathroom, resting my shoes on the sinks counter tops before tugging the towel on my head off and laying it out so it would dry before my next shower. I then grabbed my brush and ran it through my hair. It was a work out that was for sure because it was so long but I didn't mind. I enjoyed doing something as simple as brushing my hair and feeling the soft silky texture to it, something I could have never done before.

As I finished and walked out of my room, it was still early and Luka was catching up on more sleep from her late shift so I decided to head downstairs. Tamaki was always up early in the mornings.

The silence of the morning though was still nice and I liked the way the early sunrise spilt in through the windows and the morning birds tweeted melodic songs just outside the house.

I walked down the stairs and heard the soft chatter from the TV to see that Tamaki was indeed up, an empty plate resting on his coffee table next to a glass half full with orange juice. He looked up as he heard my presence and tilted his head to the side, "What are you doing up so early? You're play date isn't till noon."

"I have nerves."

Tamaki seemed to understand and gestured to his couch, "Feel free to sit down, none of you guys are usually up this early so we probably have an hour or two of silence left."

"That's fine, it actually feels kinda nice."

Tamaki shrugged as he turned his head to stare at the TV again while I walked over and folded up on his soft couch.

"Do you feel lonely sometimes Tamaki-san?"

"Excuse me?" He looked back over at me, our voices barely much over a whisper.

"Do you feel lonely?"

His eyebrows furrowed, "What makes you ask that question?"

"You're always by yourself."

He paused before he answered. "No. I've been living like this for years."

"True but um, well, since we moved in things are always hectic and exciting, but you just stay down here on the first floor."

"I don't need to feel any attachments to you guys." Tamaki said bluntly. I was never surprised by it anymore. "Rin-chan and Len-kun come down here enough to bug me when all of you are out and about."

"But you already like Luka."

Tamaki cheeks turned a little pink, "Don't be ridiculous."

I gave him a level gaze, "I'm not."

Tamaki just shook his head, his cheeks turning a normal color again. "Luka-san doesn't really seem to return the feelings anyway."

She didn't understand them. "Because you aren't doing anything, do you expect Luka to just have feelings for you if you don't do anything to show your feelings for her? None of us really understand much as you have seen and we don't understand love either. What exactly is it supposed to feel like? Is it really life altering? I don't understand it, Luka doesn't understand it; none of us understand it."

"Don't worry Miku-chan; a lot of people don't understand it. Although I see that you can at least understand a crush."

"I wish I didn't."

Tamaki gave me a questioning look but didn't press forward. "Fine then, I'll do something nice for Luka-san soon okay?"

"Even if it means getting attached," I asked.

"Um…sure." Tamaki grumbled.

I smiled brightly at Tamaki, "Good."

Tamaki looked away, scratching his head and slightly embarrassed. "Now just watch the show."

"Hm," I nodded curtly, setting my shoes down on the floor, pulling my hair forward on my shoulder before leaning back on the couch to relax for a while.

* * *

Luka woke a few hours later, sometime around 10. She took a quick shower, pulled on a blue camisole and white shorts and slapped her hair up in a ponytail before she came looking for me. Her hips rolled gently as she walked and her camisole rose up a bit to show flashes of skin around her waist. When she got to us Tamaki flushed for a brief second before looking back at the TV.

Luka rested the palm of her hand on her waist, her hair raining down her back.

"What are you doing down here Miku?" Her eyes ran up and down my body before a smile broke out on her face and she lost her calm composure as she clapped her hands together excitedly, lacing her fingers together in front of her chin. "You look so adorable!"

I blushed, "T-Thanks."

She dropped her hands as she walked over and plopped down between Tamaki and me, stretching her long slender legs out so her heels rested on top of the coffee table. Tamaki didn't seem to mind, that's for sure.

"What time do you have to leave Miku?"

"Noon-ish, Hinata-kun said I could head over to his house when I was ready."

"Well let's get you ready early so you can spend more time together."

"What! Why?"

"He's cute; you two would make a sweet couple." She winked.

"He has a girlfriend!" I shouted, flustered and embarrassed.

"Eh," She shrugged, "I still ship it."

"Lukaaaaaa," I protested, "You can't do that!"

"I just did sweetheart." She patted my cheek lightly and stood back up, grabbing my hand and dragging me behind her. "Now come on."

I groaned after her but at the same time something deep inside of me was fluttering with delight.

So thirty minutes later she had twisted my hair into a elegant yet messy bow that sat right above my neck and behind my ear. She pulled at my bangs and ruffled them lightly so they graced my face and rested her hands on my shoulders as she looked down at me with a smile of delight.

"Beautiful."

I leaned over to look around Luka and the mirror behind her.

It did hold a lazy appearance to it but still managed to make it look like I cared a bit.

"It's…really nice." I was awed. When did Luka get so good at hair anyway?

"Thank you," She popped up onto the sink, waving her legs back and forth. "I was thinking about quitting my bar tending job and becoming a hairdresser, I think I have a real talent for it."

I paused as I thought occurred in my head. We didn't have to be singers again…we could be anything we wanted.

"You do." I agreed as I looked up at Luka who was gazing off into lala land.

"When I style your hair or Rin or Gumi's even, I just get this calming feeling and what to try a whole bunch of new things."

"Kinda like singing."

Her eyes snapped back to reality as she clicked those two prospects together. "Yeah," She looked at me, "Just like singing."

There was a drawled out silence when I started to feel uncomfortable, "Well I'm gonna head over." I waved goodbye to the distant Luka and headed downstairs, pulled on my shoes and walked outside. The air was crisp, cool enough that I could keep on this sweatshirt but still warm enough to pass for summer.

I walked across the lawn and felt all fluttery in my stomach. I realized that this would be the first time I actually went over to his house and with each step that brought me closer I wanted to turn back. This was so nerve-wracking!

When I got to the door I stood there for a moment or two before tentatively reaching for the doorbell.

I could hear it echo inside the house and in the next instant all I hear were loud growls and booms of...of…howling? Something uneasy rose inside of me. What was happening?

* * *

**So I'm starting an awesome art project of Ia and Miku! I'm pretty excited for it ^^ This is a long chapter this time so you guys should be all pumped like 'woo' or something even though it is a rather simple chapter. But I enjoyed writing it so yea. Also band camp is finally done! Now I won't be exhausted all the time! Anywhoo... **

**Review with Love :)**


	18. Chapter 18

Hinata opened the door with hair sticking out in tuffs, a smudge of dirt on his white shirt and wearing some khaki shorts.

"Miku! You're already here?"

Then suddenly, between his legs a small…thing appeared on four legs covered in white tuffs of fur and a square muzzle. Dark brown eyes looked up at me and its black nose flared as its jaw opened and a bark echoed from its mouth.

"Is…is that…a dog?" There was barely anything about animals in my program, but there was some basic information.

Suddenly on both sides of Hinata's hips two large dogs poked their heads through. One had pale blue eyes with white and black fur decorating its face as it tried to push forward and Hinata had to stretch his leg out. The other one just stood there curiously with a yellow coat and floppy ears, his eyes large and brown…and…and…

I felt something warm rise inside me, spreading out through my veins uncontrollably as heat rushed to my face and my eyes sparkled. I clasped my hands together before I even knew what I was doing and squealed.

"They're so CUTE!" I exploded; my heart swelling over their adorableness. "Can I touch one?" My fingers laced together as I leaned forward toward Hinata as my eyes lit up.

The dogs looked a bit weary now.

"Um, sure, just get inside first. This one here will take any chance to sprint outside." He gestured with his head toward the white one with black accenting it's beauty.

I floated inside as Hinata stepped aside I almost sprung forward but Hinata caught my arm before I could.

I looked up with pursed lips. "You said I could touch one." I whined.

Hinata blushed unexpectedly before shaking his head and rolling his eyes, "You can, but you can't fling yourself at them. They don't know you so you gotta get the dogs' trust first."

"The dogs' trust." My heart beat slowed as I looked at the beautiful white and black dog whose ice colored eyes studied me uneasily. "How do I do that?"

Hinata slid his hands down so it stopped at my wrist and suddenly I wasn't as aware of the dogs anymore.

"Approach them naturally; they can feel your energy so you want to be calm. Take some deep breaths." He smiled gently at me as one of his blond strands fell across his forehead and over one of his eyes. I gulped before taking a deep breath to steady my heart beat and act calm.

"Good." We closed up a little more distant between the dog and I and Hinata moved my hand with his so it stopped in front of the dog's nose.

The dog sniffed my hand a then yawned, sitting down so he could scratch his ear.

"Now you can pet him. Just be natural though." Hinata left go of my wrist, even though the warmth of his hand lingered there. I reached down, closing the distance between the dog and I, my fingers running straight through his soft fur and reached to scratch behind his other ear. He closed his eyes and leaned his face into the palm of my hand and I felt a wobbly smile cross my face as something full of happiness fills me. I didn't really understand it but at this moment I was suddenly so happy I was alive and feeling.

I bent down, folding my dress under my legs as I balanced on my toes, leaning forward and slowly wrapping my arms around the dog, my face burying itself in the warmth of his fur.

"Her name is Amai." Hinata looked at me with soft eyes that I didn't see.

So it was actually a she.

"She's adorable."

Hinata chuckled with a nod, "I take it you like dogs."

I nod, it was my first time seeing one and it was so exciting. The other dogs saw me snuggling Amai and must've gotten jealous and walked over tentatively, sniffing me first before rubbing against me, knocking me off balance so the large yellow one could start licking my face.

"That's Pero."

"Pero," I giggle as his scratchy tongue runs up my cheek while the smaller dog jumped onto my waist, yapping for attention. I reach up and wiggled one of his ears playfully.

"And that's Fuzaketa."

"He's so cute!"

Hinata laughs, "Don't tell him that too much, he's already full of himself."

I lift him up and rub my cheek against the side of his face affectionately, "He has every right to be." I find myself talking to them as if they were babies, my voice pouring with love.

Hinata smiles at me. "I'm glad you like them so much, Mana isn't that big of a fan."

I look up to see Hinata biting the inside of his cheek as he pets Amai who stands loyally at his side.

"She…doesn't."

"Nah; says that they shed too much and are too much to take care of."

I was silent. What could be said to this? I felt like I was intruding, that I shouldn't be hearing this. "But she still loves you."

"Yea, she says that even if they are annoying that we can keep them."

I swallow and gently put Fuzaketa back on the ground and push Pero to the side. "Where are your parents?"

"Oh, uh, in Africa," Hinata blinks as the conversation strays to another subject.

Africa…Africa…that was…a…country that I think they showed us in class one day. And if I remembered correctly it was quite the distance away.

"Why?"

Hinata eyes began to sparkle, "They're protecting the wild life. My parents travel around the world and protect endangered species."

I stand up and brush off my clothes, "Endangered species? What's that?"

Hinata seemed shocked. "You don't know?"

I shook my head.

"Basically it's…" He tilted his head to the side for a moment while he thought before suddenly pointing to Pero. "Pero is a Golden retriever alright; it's a different type of dog in the species of dogs."

"Okayyy."

"Now imagine if all of them died or were all killed."

The idea was appalling. "Why would I want to imagine that, its horrible."

"Exactly, that's what my parents do; they prevent animals from being killed or all dying off. At least they try to, they can't always be successful."

"So animals like Pero?"

"Sorta, except Golden retrievers are nowhere near extinction. They protect elephants or lions, or maybe the gray wolf or gorillas. They even helped the investigation for the Tasmanian tiger but there still isn't enough proof if that animal has returned or not." Hinata trailed off as my brain rolled. What were these animals that he was naming off?

"What are elephants?"

Hinata looked horrified again by my lack of knowledge. "I thought you came from a circus!"

"I did."

"Didn't it have elephants?"

"No."

"Well it's a good think Google exists, follow me."

So for half an hour Hinata introduced me to elephants, lions, and the Tasmanian tiger that had gone extinct 75 years ago. He showed me wolfs that reminded me of Amai. He said that was because Amai was a Siberian husky and there was a rumor that some huskies had wolf blood in them. He then showed me the ocean, whales, dolphins, sharks, seals. Then he showed me polar bears and penguins, he showed me birds of all kinds, the ones that could fly and the ones that couldn't and when the doorbell rang I collapsed on my seat and looked at Hinata in shock.

"There's so many." I whisper. Was the world really so much bigger? It seemed almost impossible to grasp that Japan was so small and there was so much outside of my dream and the Vocaloids. Why hadn't they showed me this in my program? Probably because it wasn't important if I was an unfeeling singer, but important in the real world, at that moment I realized just how small my existence was. But also…how important it was. Yes it might be small…but…but that's what made life worth living. I should have known that already.

I found myself smiling as Hinata went to open the door. Protecting the animals huh, it sounded amazing.

Getting up from my seat I shook my head from my outstanding realization to greet Isao and Mana who stood at the door where Hinata greeted them.

I walked up to them with a smile, my hands laced behind my back. Mana had dressed up just like me, wearing a pink dress with spaghetti straps and a bold black belt under her chest with some short black leggings to her thighs and some pink flats of her own. Her strawberry blond hair was up in a perky ponytail and her makeup was freshly applied.

I didn't own any makeup but I felt as though I didn't need it, my program got famous without it so so I could too.

Isao wore some jeans and a t-shirt.

"You ready to go Hinata?" Mana asked as she reached forward and grabbed his hand, pulling him close to her.

"Yeah yeah," He looked over his shoulder so his emerald green eyes could smile at mine. "Come on Miku."

I blushed with a nod and hurried forward.

We all headed back inside and climbed into Isao's Mom's van. Isao had the passenger seat while Mana told me to get in first. I did and she followed me so that way she sat in the middle and Hinata sat next to her.

Well this was slightly awkward, it was obvious why she sat in the middle, to keep Hinata and I separated. Did she know I sat right next to him in Tamaki's car every day to school? Well if she didn't I wasn't telling her.

Isao's Mom turned on the music and we began a considerably silent ride to the amusement park mainly filled by the music. I found the music lighting my breath and easing my mind and let my excitement pool through my fingers, rotating toward the window and nearly pressing my face to the glass as I waited to the amusement park to appear in my view. When I saw a large Ferris wheel in the distance I felt my eyes widen in awe as a squeal left my lips.

"Is everything alright Miku?" Hinata asked.

I turned around excitedly, a large smile on my face. "I've never been to an amusement park before."

"What! Are you serious! That circus didn't let you learn or do anything!"

"Circus?" Mana and Isao voice at the same time.

"Didn't she tell you Renji? She came from the circus!" Hinata was still fascinated by this.

"A circus…that you were homeschooled at." Isao's eyes were locked on mine now and I swallowed, scratching my head. It had been the first time he had looked at me for a while, let alone actually carry out a conversation with me.

"Uh…yeah…but only a little…"

"They homeschooled you," Hinata leaned forward, "But you don't know anything."

"They homeschooled me on basic things, like simple math and Japanese of course, as well as some science but that school was based mainly on finding talent." I scurried around for things to say.

Isao's Mom perked at this. "What kind of talents?"

"Like big talents, singing and acting and anything that could make someone famous."

"Mmm, that sounds more like a talent agency."

Even though I didn't know what she was talking about I jumped onto it, "Yes! That's exactly it! The talent agency called themselves Circus and they were a small agency so they were taking as much as they could to try to get big."

"So that's why they kidnapped you."

"You were kidnapped!" Isao eyes went wide and Mana's hands clasped over her mouth.

"It was a long time ago; I don't remember when exactly, I was too young. But that's why we ran away because we didn't want to be forced to be there."

"But you were adopted." Isao was clearly confused.

"I was adopted when I was a baby by Meiko's Mom. But when we were kidnapped we were taken away from her to the circus."

"Have you tried calling the police? Or reporting this? You could find your adoptive Mom!" Isao's Mom's concerned eyes looked at me through her mirror.

"We already did, she died a year ago." I can't believe I was making up all these lies! I would have to tell the others about it so they could be caught up in all this. Mana's eyes narrowed but Hinata was shocked. "So that's why you're still staying with Tamaki-san."

I nodded. I dodged that quite nicely.

"That's so tragic; I can't imagine the hardships you went through."

I wave it off wearily, "I was pretty unfeeling the whole time so I wouldn't worry about it."

"Do you wonder about your real parents? You could always try to look for them."

Isao's Mom was trying to be kind but recently words like that stung because I didn't have birth parents. I didn't have anything to my name.

"I don't want to try…I do wonder though…what they would've looked like." If they were real.

No one had anything to say to that and it was understandable, who could find something to say to that?

The atmosphere was dark and heavy now and I couldn't let it stay like this, today was going to be a fun day!

"It's okay though, because I'm alive now ya know! I plan to make the best of what time I have here unforgettable and I want to feel and see everything that there is to see! And I'll become a famous singer all on my own! Life is actually pretty exciting." I smiled, "I always can't wait for the next day I can wake up and just take a deep breath and appreciate what I have even if it's nothing at all."

Isao's Mom smiled, "That's the way to think." She pulled down into the amusement park's parking lot and stopped the car. "Now get out!" She laughed, "I'll be back to pick you guys up in a few."

I unbuckled and stepped out of the car excitedly and stood in awe as my head tilted back at the rides and screams rushing over me. I felt something bubble inside me, probably that same giddiness I had felt once before and I started to rush forward with the air under my feet.

* * *

**Amusement park next chapter! Super excited!**


	19. Chapter 19

"What?"

"It's a must!" Mana pulled me toward a dark, creepy looking building with wood falling off the front. Spider webs hung in the corners and a sign painted in red sat jagged above the door. For some reason this place was set along the outskirts of the park and surrounded by dead trees. "You have to see the haunted house!"

"I...I don't understand." What was a haunted house? I felt like I should know. How many creepy haunted songs had I sung? But I didn't think this was the same thing. Hinata and Isao walked lazily behind us.

"It will be fine Miku; I'll go with you if you want." Hinata offered and Mana frowned.

"I thought you would go with me."

"It will be fine if I go with Miku, besides Isao and Miku don't know each other as well."

Mana let out a sigh, "Fine." She released my hand. "Isao and I will go in first alright." Mana jogged around me to Isao and grabbed his elbow, pulling him forward.

"This is lame." Isao groaned as Mana jerked open the doors and disappeared inside. The door creaked to a shut and I turned to look at Hinata.

"What's a haunted house?"

"You'll see."

Hinata waited a few minutes before walking forward, "They are probably halfway in by now."

"Why did we wait for them to be halfway through?"

"So we don't run into them, it would ruin the effect if a good thing happened."

Suddenly I was really nervous as I hurried behind Hinata. He opened the door and walked in first, me on his heels.

Darkness was the first thing that sealed over my vision as the door closed behind us. I couldn't see anything, not even my hands as I extended them in front of me.

"Hinata-kun?"

A hand rested on my shoulder, "Right here."

"Where are the lights?"

"Your eyes have to adjust, just wait."

I waited, blinking a numerous amount of times until I was able to see a hazy Hinata, "I can see you." I breathed in relief. What was this place? Hinata let go of my shoulder and started walking forward. I looked around curiously, ominous lights spilled from the dark wood and it looked like a goo of some type was hanging from the ceiling.

We continued walking down the hallway and a dark cloaked figured appeared in the corner where the hallway turned and I wasn't sure how to comprehend it. We rounded the corner and I looked behind me for one last glance at the figures when the doors closed behind us, shutting us off from the cloaked figure. Did he close the door? The doors clambered to a stop when they finished closing and suddenly an bloodcurdling scream pieced my ears and I jumped, my hands clapping over my heart to try to stop its erratic beating as the walls began to flash, red stuff slipping out the cracks and pooling down onto the floor. I skipped to the side, away from it. Was it blood? I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand as red lights flashed wildly in this hallway and picked up my step, looking only in front of us as the red stuff got closer and closer to my shoes when suddenly another set of doors cut behind us and the screaming stopped, as well as the red pools of blood.

I looked behind me with a sigh of relief and when I turned around another scream pieced the air, something flying off the wall and stopping in front of my face.

I shrieked and my body reacted before my mind could, my fist flying out to defend myself when my hand flew right through the object and I blinked in surprise to see I punched through a cardboard face of a screaming woman. I pulled out my fist and looked at the hole that went right through her nose.

Hinata blinked, visibly gaping, "M-Miku! Y-You're not supposed to punch it!"

I folded my hands in front of me, taking a step back and apologized to the card board face. "Sorry scary lady." I straightened, "I didn't mean to. My body just reacted." I blushed sheepishly.

Hinata blinked again before his mouth started to wiggle and suddenly he was laughing, joyful bursts of amusement as he wiped a tear from his eye.

"You never cease to amaze me, Miku."

"That's a good thing right?"

He nodded, "Yes." He said, smiling at me as a few chuckles still spilled from his lips. "Now come on, we still gotta get through the rest of this."

I nodded as Hinata gestured for me to stand close to his side so I did. In the end, I was glad I punched the scary lady.

* * *

"She did what!" Mana was in shock and Isao had looked away but not before I saw him smile. "Do you think they'll make us pay for the damage?" Mana asked seriously.

Unfortunately bringing the subject back up on made Hinata laugh again, "You should've seen her Mana! It was hilarious!"

Mana brought a hand to her forehead in exasperation, "This isn't funny Hinata! We could get in big trouble."

"Oh come down Mana-chan." Isao cut in, "It's not like they will know who did it; people are constantly in and out of that place."

Mana frowned as I looked around the park and saw something tall in the distance; it went really high up and then curved to go down on the other side steeply. I watched the people in their seats go up, their feet dangling below them before they disappeared out of sight. I pointed to it. "Can we go on that next?"

Everyone looked up and Hinata looked excited while Mana paled. "You wanna go on the Griffin?"

I nodded, "Yes."

"I'm not going on a roller coaster." Mana protested.

"You don't have to," Hinata ruffled her hair, "You can wait for us till we get off."

Mana didn't seem to like either of those options.

"Fine," Mana marched forward beside Hinata, "I'll go."

Hinata seemed thrilled and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, "Look at this Miku! You created a miracle!"

"I did?"

"Mana never rides roller coasters."

"Why not?" Was there something bad about them? They looked like a lot of fun to me.

Hinata laughed while Mana pouted, neither one answering my question as they marched ahead of us and I was left walking beside Isao.

I looked up at Isao who again wasn't really looking at me and remembered that I told Kyoko I would confront him on this. It was clear to see that this was my only chance considering he actually had shared a few words with me today so far.

"Isao-kun."

He looked down at me and I let out a small sigh of relief, he was acknowledging me. "Did I do something to upset you?"

He looked away at that and picked up his speed, about to walk away but I stopped him, grabbing onto the back of his shirt. "Please stop running away from me!" I nearly shouted and Hinata and Mana actually paused and turned around to look at us as Isao stared at me with wide eyes.

"Is everything alright?" Hinata asked.

"Yes," Isao looked over at Hinata, "Go ahead without us real quick, Miku needs me to take her to the restroom."

Hinata frowned but continued with Mana after she tugged his arm a few times and Isao just stood there staring at me. I dropped my hand and clenched it behind me.

"What did I do?" I pleaded for an answer, to stop this confusion. I wanted to be friends with Isao.

"God dammit Miku." Isao ran an exasperated hand through his hand as I blinked and tilted my head to the side.

"Damn…it," I drawled out on the word, "What does that mean?"

Isao flushed a light red, "It's nothing," He took a deep breath, his skin returning to its normal color, "And you didn't do anything wrong Miku, I did."

"You did?" Isao was really confusing.

"I stopped trying to win your heart!"

Uh…what…

"I couldn't though, not after I saw the way Hinata looked at you that day. I couldn't go after you anymore, my feelings weren't important anymore. I was trying to distance myself from you but you…you don't take a hint!"

"You're confusing me Isao-kun." I took a nervous step back.

Isao shook his head and lowered his voice, "I like you Miku."

My eyes widened.

"But before you even answer I know you like Hinata, I can see that. As easily as I can see he likes you too."

I frowned, "Don't say that. You don't know that for sure! Plus he has a girlfriend."

"I've known Hinata my whole life, hell, I can even tell that Mana knows you two have a spark. Although thankfully for her, Hinata is dense, he won't figure out his feelings for you in months."

I pause, was there really any point of denying what they said anymore? Even if it did fill me with false hope, "Do…do you think Mana will win this. That she can keep the man she loves."

"That depends. I don't like the way Mana looks at you, but she has given me no reason to be uneasy. She's a nice girl, I'm sure she's just cautious."

"Isao-kun…I don't want to ruin Mana like that. Yes I do like Hinata-kun, but I care about Mana's feelings too! It doesn't feel right, tearing them apart like this."

"You aren't tearing anything Miku. They aren't apart are they? Like I said it will take a while for Hinata to realize his feelings, then the rest is up to him."

Isao was about to turn around, to leave when my next words stopped him. "Why did you stop trying?"

He stopped in mid-way turn looked at me with a weary smile and one eyebrow pulling upward, "I told myself it was because Hinata was my best friend, but I know the truth…it would've been pointless."

With that he gave me one last look that made my throat clench shut, sealing off any other words as he turned his back to me and started walking toward the coaster, his hands shoved lazily in his pockets.

"Come on shrimp, I'm sure they're waiting for us."

After a slight pause I followed after Isao, keeping a respectful distance and when we caught up to the others I looked up at Hinata and felt that same ache I always felt. Why did liking one person cause so much pain for others and myself? These feelings were far too complex to understand and although I had fun the rest of the day, the roller coaster taking my breath away and the Ferris wheel stunning to the eye, there was still something heavy in my heart.

Wasn't there a way for everyone to be happy?

* * *

**Sorry for taking so long! I was writing a sentence about Mana when I just lost all interest and I got another story idea about dragons and elves and all that cool stuff. Not exactly sure what I'm gonna do with it but anywho, again sorry for taking long on this and leaving you with something short but it was just one of those days.**

**Review with love 3**

**Oh P.S. I usually don't wanna give stuff up on the story...well I do on the facebook page but nonetheless, Ia, thanks to my reviewer who told me about her has become my favorite vocaloid for a few weeks now and I actually wished I knew about her before this story so she could've been the main character but with that said, I would expect a hopeful outlook on Ia joining us later ;)**


	20. Chapter 20

When I got home I pulled out my hair, stomped up the stairs, took a shower and crawled into my futon.

Human life, I was discovering, was pretty unfair.

I looked over at Gumi who was already sleeping, a book opened on her chest as it rose softly with her relaxed breathing.

Or maybe I was the only one getting the unfair straw of this life so far. Was it really so difficult to find happiness for all these people?

In my head I knew Mana should stay with Hinata and Hinata would never like me and I should try to get closer to Isao who realizes his feelings now, but this strange thing in my chest, my heart, seems to think just the opposite of what seemed logical. My program had been made of atoms and databases, mathematical equations and a simple science and maybe the art of creating my character.

But now I was flesh and bones, a mixture of thought and emotion.

My heart still cared deeply about Hinata; it didn't hurt as much anymore because I was allowed to be with him. But it hurt to know Mana should always have him when I wanted that chance.

Then for Isao, I felt nothing but guilt for not being capable of caring about him first.

I was beginning to learn it wasn't possible to turn ones heart around at a command. I looked at my hand, wondering how I felt things like I did. I was just flesh and bone, but what made me feel in all this muscle and anatomy? What gave me a conscious and then gave me something that defied what my conscious told me?

I cared about Hinata but I didn't want to make everyone unhappy. What should I do thoughts, heart…do you have a specific answer for me?

Can you guide me when I need you?

If I had a Mom, what would she tell me?

I felt something just then, my eyes stung and something wet spilled down the corner of my eyes, my eyelashes damps as they brushed my skin when I blinked.

I reached up and touched the wet streak going down my face, sitting up in alarm I rushed out of my bed, these wet things still streaming steadily down my face, blurring my vision ever so slightly as I pounded downstairs to find Tamaki in the kitchen.

He looked up at my noisy arrival with a look of annoyance when that look suddenly changed to something I didn't understand.

"Tamaki-san," My voice croaked, it sounded horrible, "What's happening to me?"

"What do you mean what's happening to you?" He rushed forward with a napkin and caringly dapped at my face, "What's wrong with you is the more appropriate question."

He seemed concerned, something I never really saw from Tamaki, he was to use to only having to worry about himself for the longest time before we stepped into his life.

I wiped furiously at my face, pushing Tamaki's hands away. "What is this?"

"You mean your tears?" He shook his head, "You're crying Miku! Don't you know this?"

"Why…why am I crying?" I asked pitifully, looking up at Tamaki with wide, confused eyes.

"You're sad."

"Sad?" I shook my head, "I've felt sad before Tamaki-san, it's never made me do this." At this moment what I felt inside was much more intense then sadness.

"It's not an ordinary sadness for you then, but more like devastated, tormented by your own thoughts."

So this is what devastated felt like? Enough to reduce on to such a strange state that their eyes watered like this?

I remember in my program they would put blue streaks on my face, but I didn't know why or for what.

Were they trying to make me devastated as well?

"I don't like this feeling Tamaki-san."

Tamaki gave me an awkward hug, trying to sooth me before walking up to the second story with me and laying me back down where he held my hand and waited till I fell asleep.

* * *

LUKA

Luka stepped into Miku's and Gumi's room after she got home from her last night at the bar; she had quit tonight and was going to become a hairdresser as soon as she could. But before she'd lie down for the night she wanted to make sure the rest of her small family was okay.

When she opened the door she saw Tamaki sitting beside Miku, leaning against the wall and dozing off, his hands holding hers in a gentle way that she saw kids hold their parents hands.

She felt her heart skip a beat at the sight and walked inside, leaning down in front of Tamaki and lightly shook his shoulders.

He awoke at a start, jumping a bit in surprise, his face only inches from Luka's.

Their eyes went wide and both of them hastily leaned backwards from each other, Luka's heart thudding in her chest.

She looked back at Tamaki hesitantly, "Um, you should probably head to bed Tamaki-kun."

He nodded and looked down at Miku, prying his hand slowly from hers. Luka watched Miku's arm curl up to her chest as she slept and felt an overwhelming tenderness for her.

"Why were you holding her hand?"

"She was crying."

"She was doing what?" Luka asked, confused.

Tamaki shook his head, "You guys don't know anything do you. She was very sad, so sad that tears came out of her eyes."

Luka started to panic, "Wait! Why was she sad?"

"Shh," Tamaki hushed her and Luka tried to calm down again, "I don't know, she didn't tell me. She didn't seem to understand it herself. You guys have been on your own most of your life. I figured she just needed someone to be beside her for the night."

"Well…thank you Tamaki-kun. You can be really sweet."

Tamaki blushed and Luka looked away embarrassingly, "I'm heading to bed now." Luka stood up, "See you tomorrow Tamaki-kun."

"Yes, you too," Tamaki stood up and left the room as well. Luka watched Tamaki leave and before she went to her room she peeked in one last time at Gumi and Miku before closing the door.

* * *

That next morning I woke up to Gumi giggling at that same book she had fallen asleep with and I rubbed at my bleary eyes feeling strangely clear-headed then I had in a while. Maybe that whole crying business wasn't as bad as I had first thought.

Sitting up I looked over at Gumi who looked up at me sheepishly, "Oh I'm sorry, did I wake you up?"

I waved it off with a tired smile, "Nope." I assured her and stood up, stretching out my legs and twisting my torso before pulling my hair up in a sloppy bun and pulling on a yellow t-shirt and some jean shorts.

I'm going to visit Hinata's animals today.

Walking out of the room I saw Gakupo making a brunch of sorts and Kaito flipping through the channels. Meiko and Luka were probably still sleeping, not that anyone could blame them for their late work shifts.

"Hey I'm going out to Hinata-kun's today." I told them. Gakupo looked up at me and Kaito was by my side in the blink of an eye.

"Luka told us everything, is everything all right?"

My eyebrows furrowed together. "What did Luka tell you?"

"That you needed Tamaki to hold your hand last night."

My face turned a deep scarlet red, "Look, it's not what it sounds like!"

"We know, but you never told Tamaki what was wrong. So what was wrong?"

"Oh…that's what you guys want to know?"

They nodded.

"The amusement park made me sad because…well because," I had no reason to keep my feelings for Hinata a secret from these guys but I decided to not tell them just yet. "We never had anything like that at our programs, that's why I couldn't tell Tamaki-san." I said as I placed a hand on the back of my head. It was strange lying, but it wasn't necessary a lie, I wished we had had all these things in our old program.

The boys seemed to relate and let me off the hook and I traveled downstairs and out the door before I could run into Tamaki.

He had acted very…fatherly I believe it is, last night. And the gesture of it was surprised and embarrassing so I would probably be slightly uncomfortable around him for a while.

I walked outside in my bare feet and jogged over to Hinata's with a light heart. I should probably thank those tears last night; I didn't feel nearly as troubled anymore.

When I got to his house I knocked lightly on the door with my knuckles and then put both my hands behind my back, rocking back on my heels as I waited.

Loud barking and small yips filled the air and I smiled as the door opened.

A tall woman stood with long blond hair smacked up in a high ponytail and wide green eyes that held a look of surprise on her face, "You aren't Fujukawa-chan."

"Um…no I'm not," I admitted sheepishly, scratching at my cheek at the animals burst out from between her legs and rushed towards me full speed, the largest one jumping up as my eyes went wide and his giant paws landed on me, knocking me back on my butt where the dogs proceeded to smother me in doggy kisses.

Laughter erupted from me as I unsuccessfully tried to push them away.

Hinata walked up from behind the woman, the same height as her.

"Miku? What are you doing here?"

Geez, the dogs gave better greetings.

"I came to visit," I sputtered as I pushed a dog's face aside to look at Hinata, "Is that alright?"

"Sure sure, just call me next time for a heads up," He shook his head, his cheeks a slight pink as the woman grabbed the bigger dogs collars and dragged them inside as the little dog jumped into my arms, Hinata helping me up on my feet.

"I don't know your number."

"Tamaki-san does, just ask him."

I nodded; I would remember that next time!

Hinata led me inside where that same woman was standing with a loose fist on her waist. "Who is this, young man?" Her eyebrow rose.

"This is Hatsune Miku." He smiled, "Miku this is my Aunt Mimi."

"Hatsune Miku," She tapped her chin with her free hand, "That has a nice ring to it wouldn't you say Hinata."

Well it was made that way.

Hinata agreed with the nod of his head

"But still," She put both of her hands on her waist now, "Would Fujukawa-chan approve of this?"

"She knows we're just friends." Hinata nonchalantly wrapped an arm around my shoulders just to prove it, and while it might have been proof for him it only sent my heart fluttering like a bird.

Aunt Mimi stared at a moment longer before her eyes went wide grabbed my elbow (not my hand because the dog was still nestled comfortably in my arms) and pulled me into a kitchen set up similar to Tamaki's.

"You like him don't you?" She whispered.

I don't move an inch but her eyes twinkled and she claps in joy, "Go for it child! Fujukawa-chan isn't good enough for my nephew; I'm ready for a new face."

There wasn't much I could do to stop my jaw from dropping. She smiled, resting and hand on my back and walking me back out to where Hinata stood with a boyish expression on his face, crossed arms, and amazing eyes…oh wait…that was just me getting distracted.

"What was that about Aunt Mimi?"

"I told her that it was nice to see you actually had a friend and she shouldn't feel pressured to stay." Aunt Mimi winked

Hinata flushed with embarrassment as I fought to hide a giggle. "T-that's not true! I have a lot of friends over."

"Oh really, besides Renji and Fujukawa-chan,"

Hinata pursed his lips, "Uh, the animals should count."

Just then the twins spilled through the door, not bothering to knock at all as they made their presence known.

Aunt Mimi's eyes went wide, "And who are they? You actually do have more friends?"

"I'm Rin!" Rin announced cheerfully.

"I'm Len." Len said at the same time with his hands stuffed nonchalantly in his pockets.

Rin flung herself at me, wrapping her arms around mine. "We saw you coming over here and wanted to come, Tamaki-san is super boring!"

Len chuckled under his breath.

"Tamaki-san means well."

"We know." The twins said in unison with slightly different tones.

"Well then," Aunt Mimi just shook her heads, "You kids have fun, I'm going to read a book."

"Let's perform for them!"

"What?" Hinata and Aunt Mimi asked, stunned.

I found myself blushing, although I had no reason to be. "That's not necessary. Hinata has heard me sing before."

"But not with us." Rin drawled.

"You guys sing?" Aunt Mimi seemed intrigued.

Hinata nodded, "Their whole family does."

"Well I wanna hear, I'm pretty hard to please so the criticism would be genuine." She gave a board smile and rounded the couch in the living room so she could plop down on a cushion.

"How about Black Vow," Rin suggested.

I immediately shook my head, "No, something happy and simple."

"Shake it?" Len asked.

Rin let go of me to clap her hands together, "That's a great idea! I love that song!"

"I know, I hear you sing it in the shower." Len smiled.

"It's catchy." Rin blushed.

"I agree," I actually latched onto this song, "This is a great song!"

"But we have no room to do the dance." Len commented.

"You wanna do the dance?"

"Len just likes the break dance he does." Rin giggled

"How do you know?" Len questioned.

"I saw you practicing by the pool, in the pool, in our room, on the couch-"

Len was burning and clapped a hand over Rin's mouth.

"Then let's go out into the backyard." Aunt Mimi stood up and was outside before any of could blink.

"Well…" Hinata didn't seem to know what to say and watched Rin run outside with Len on her heels.

I started walking behind them and Hinata joined me, "Hey Miku, I have a question for you before you perform for us."

"What's that?"

"Would you like to come watch the soccer games?"

"The ones Renji and you play in?"

"Yes, Mana could surely use some company."

"Could she?" I asked skeptically.

Hinata chuckled, "Come on, please?"

I rolled my eyes, "Sure Hinata-kun, I'll go watch." I did like soccer anyways.

"Thanks! It will be fun, I promise!" He smiled one of those smile that looks as though it was the sun breaking through on a dark cloudy day and warmed me up from the inside out.

We got outside and Len and Rin were going at it, Rin knocking Len on the back of his head while Len tried to bring some control to his sister.

"I'm sorry!"

"You obviously can't take the fact that we aren't related anymore can you!"

Her shout rang almost painfully through my ears and her eyes went wide, her shaking hands clapping over her mouth. Rin was just as feisty as Meiko could get, but it took her a bit more to get there. But when she did she lashed out, her words one she would regret.

Something told me that these words had been buried for a while though to strike out so suddenly.

Len own eyes were wide, a mirror image to Rin's. What she said would make no sense to bystanders and risked our secret.

"What do you mean?" Hinata asked, confused.

Aunt Mimi shook her head, "He told her to get off his back, that he didn't need her constantly watching him. She took that offensively and lashed and he tried to apologize and well, you see."

"She just says that," I tried to cover them up, "See they are obviously related it's just recently it hasn't felt like it anymore for them. It's just an expression." I bowed deeply, praying they would believe, and surprisingly enough they did.

Aunt Mimi scratched the back of her head, "Maybe we can save Shake It for another day."

Len and Rin still stood in shock.

I nodded, "Yes, sorry for intruding today." I wrapped my arms around both Rin and Len, "We'll be heading home now." I glanced back at Hinata, "See you later." And I quickly shuffled them away.

I hadn't planned for such a short visit to Hinata's house but I had no choice, I couldn't stay there after that.

And it was a good thing I had taken them away because just as we entered Tamaki's yard Rin broke down into a fit of tears, the same things I had just experienced yesterday seemed to be just another breakdown for Rin. Len unfroze from his shock and brushed me aside to attend to his sister.

"I'm sorry," She mumbled through her tears, "It's just not the same anymore Len," She looked up desperately at him, "All we knew was each other, that's all we ever were." She choked softly on her tears, "But now, we aren't even twins. Just people who happen to look alike, it's like everything has been twisted the wrong way." She cried so pitifully my own pain surfaced at the sight of her's. All this time I thought I was the only one experiencing hard ships? But as I saw Len bring Rin into a fierce, protective hug all I saw were all the images of them as programs.

Hugging, holding hands, smiling together, singing together, if one was there, the other was bound to be related; their programs would've done everything for what they had. They were some the most famous twins of Japan and won thousands of hearts together.

And now, all they had that was the same were their looks.

It almost made me wonder if they spoke in unison at the same time just to feel a connection still.

But that was ridiculous; they spoke like that without even trying and sometimes tell the other to stop copying each other only to laugh a moment later.

"That's stupid."

They both looked up at me and I saw that even Len's eyes were a bit red around the corners.

"What?" Rin looked at me dubiously, to sad to be angry.

"If anything you guys should be happy you still look the same. Secondly you guys still talk in unison all the time." I shook my head, "So what you aren't blood related! So what if you aren't the same anymore! Being your own person will only bring you closer as you finally feel how much you care about each other."

Rin sniffled, "Well…that's true. But I don't want to be my own person without Len."

"Then just stay together forever."

"But what happens when one of us gets married to someone else?" Len asked.

"Then marry each other! You aren't blood related!" Did I really just say that?

They both blushed in embarrassment at the idea, Rin fully pulling away from Len. I raised my hands defensively, "It was just a suggestion."

They didn't say anything and after that, as days slowly pasted, I realized just how much they relied on each other, I never saw them apart. I couldn't imagine what it must be like to practically being one person to being completely severed from each other in this world.

They still looked alike and still spoke at the same time, but their thought process and personalities in this world really were different.

They were too young to think about marriage, especially to each other and I could tell that the minute I had suggested it they threw it aside. But who knows, maybe one day they will tell the world they aren't actually related and after that…well…only the future knows.

I smiled as I thought about that while I did the dishes after school one day, everyone had their own future, I had my own future. The sound of that never got old.

* * *

**So my Beta did have to time to fix this after all, but now we wait till he can return unfortunately and if it takes to long I will do my best to correct on my own better then the first time lol :) Also I would like to thank those who like the Facebook page for this story, I'll try to release more secret stuff but not all the secret stuff. :)**

**Review with Love 3**


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